Theater shuts down criticism of Michael Moore

Filmmaker Michael Moore comes under criticism in "Shooting Michael Moore"

An award-winning film that unveils the tactics documentary maker Michael Moore used to make "Sicko" and his other projects has been cancelled by a movie theater in Traverse City, Mich., Moore's home state, and its maker is blaming Moore's influence.

"It was listed, and now it's not, and, obviously, the pressure got to them. Wow, amazing – that he (Moore) was able to move a national theater chain like that," Kevin Leffler, maker of "Shooting Michael Moore," told the Traverse City Record-Eagle newspaper.

Leffler's project won the Audience Choice Award recently at the Flint Film Festival and has been screened already in Florida and Detroit. And Leffler, a college professor who spent his high school years attending class with Moore, admitted he knew of Moore's popularity in Michigan.

A trailer about the movie was posted on YouTube but later was pulled. It remains available on QubeTV.TV.

"I know I am going right in Mike's back yard, and I know that many view him as very favorable," Leffler told the newspaper.

Still, he said, his message about Moore is important.

"The reality is that who's Mike out for, is Mike, and that's OK, but he's dumped on a lot of people," Leffler said.

He said he was inspired to make the movie because Moore doesn't actually match the "generous speaker of truth" or "all-American sort-of-guy" image from his movies.

Moore's film, "Sicko," which drew raves at the Cannes Film Festival, praises the Cuban health care system's "comprehensive coverage" as an example for the U.S. The film shows Americans traveling to the communist nation for care they purportedly couldn't get in the U.S.

But Leffler's project contrasts the Moore-taped scenes of U.S. patients getting care in a Havana clinic with video of Cubans being turned away from help at the same facility, the Miami Herald reports.

The newspaper said the video shows a reality "far removed" from the "Sicko" presentation.

"For those of us who have followed his footsteps during these years, his falseness about the Cuban health system and the deplorable state of medical services that Cuban nationals receive shouldn't surprise us," Leffler told the Miami newspaper.

The decision to pull the film from the Carmike Cinemas in Traverse City was not explained by company officials there. Company spokesman Dale Hurst told the Record-Eagle the Traverse City location was to be the first of its theaters to show the movie.

Leffler reported he learned his film had been cancelled, but he was not told the reason. He told the Record-Eagle Moore apparently succeeded in "silencing a voice that he did not want to come out."

Officials at the company's corporate office in Georgia did not respond to WND attempts to obtain a comment today.

The Eagle-Record said "Shooting Michael Moore" had been scheduled to begin a one-week run Friday, but it suddenly was pulled from the schedule just hours before a press conference that had been announced by Moore supporters.

Jeff Gibbs, who worked on Moore's films "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Bowling for Columbine," said the title clearly went too far in advocating violence against Moore.

"It's a relief, because Michael's a member of our community," Gibbs told the newspaper after the cancellation was announced. "He's a friend and a real person."

"I'd like to see the title of the movie changed, and the call to ... basically hurt Michael to be recanted," Gibbs told the newspaper.

But Leffler explained the "Shooting Michael Moore" title refers to "shooting with a camera."

"I wish Mike no harm, and the movie itself has literally zero implications," he said.

The Herald said Leffler's project uses the same tactics against Moore that Moore used to make his projects.

Leffler said he just wanted people to know more about Moore.

"Mike is out for Mike. I don't have a problem with him making money, but don't tell me you're fighting for the underclass and people without a voice," he told the newspaper.

Leffler's film shows some of the people who were interviewed by Moore are reporting Moore took their statements out of context.

The film also highlights Moore's criticism of corporate America, even while he apparently owned stock in Exxon Mobil and Halliburton through a nonprofit he established.