While I had heard of Canadian Bacon before purchasing it, I was not aware that one of my favorite authors and filmmakers, Michael Moore, had been at the helm as the director. Luckily I found it to be just as well-written, severely biting, and hilarious as his past works. While reading some of the older reviews for Canadian Bacon on this site, however, I noticed many had differing beliefs. One poster, for example, attacked Moore's film for criticizing the American military. I love this kind of person, the type who blindly waves a U.S. flag while never once thinking that someone in the White House may actually be thinking more about their own interests than theirs. "How dare Moore make fun of our beloved military! Where would he be without them, I ask you? If he was living in another country, he wouldn't be able to say those things!" Hey, great point, moron! Then there are those who think Moore is from Canada, which is hilarious. Statements like those just show how little the person knows about Moore and his body of work. Anyway, back to the film itself, which is still very timely in today's society. The opening sequence is a very funny parody of what's been happening in Moore's hometown of Flint, Michigan for many years: a huge company known as Hacker has recently closed down a plant which terminates thousands of jobs in the local community. The plant was responsible for producing weapons of destruction during the cold war, but now that the Russians have surrendered, there is no longer an enemy to fight. This troubles both the founder of Hacker and the latest White House administration, since without a foe their profits and popularity points go down. So what do they do? They try and convince the Russians to get back in the game, but they quickly realize this will never happen, as their former enemies now only want MTV and other luxuries for their people. One moment which really rang eerie in Canadian Bacon came when one of the President's men suggests going up against international terrorists, only to be denied by another staff member who claims, "...all they do is go around blowing up rental cars!" Creepy, no? A similar scene involves a joke about letting loose killer bees, which ended up being used as a phony scare years later by the media. Remember that? It's odd how prophetic Moore can be sometimes. The rest of the film, as you all know, involves a cold war with Canada. The anti-Canadian propaganda stuff in this movie is pitch perfect, from the maple syrup running down the TV screen like blood to the list of Canadian celebrities now living in the U.S. At this point I'd like to address those who claim this movie makes America/Canada look bad. Hey, it's called satire people, and all satire has to come from somewhere, right? America DOES have gun toting rednecks and conniving politicians and corporate members, and Canada IS known for being a much nicer (and cleaner!) country than ours. Get over it, already! Moore's only telling it like it is, whether you want to cover your ears and sing, "The Star Spangled Banner" while he does it or not. So as I said before, Canadian Bacon is a very funny film which targets certain elements of our country and manages to make a dead on shot. Congrats on another winner, Mike! 4/4
Review of Canadian Bacon
