Donahue panel takes a political turn

BY GRETCHEN MURRAY
gmurray@record-eagle.com

August 02, 2008 12:00 am

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TRAVERSE CITY -- Michael Moore's Friday film discussion segued into a politically-charged anti-war rally.

Moore and his guest panelist, former television talk show host Phil Donahue, related candid personal experiences and vented their frustrations in crossing paths with the country's corporate media.

"I was very naïve. After all those years I thought I was welcomed because I was different. I learned that being against the war in 2002 was not good for business," Donahue said, reflecting on the cancellation of his long-running talk show by cable network MSNBC six weeks before the 2003 Iraq invasion.

Donahue said his views, which he believes brought about his show's demise, were also the impetus to produce his anti-Iraq War documentary, "Body of War." It chronicles the daily struggles of a wounded war veteran and his family as they deal with his permanent paralysis. The film is being screened at this year's film festival.

Whether a film is fantasy or documentary, the people who make them can sometimes pay a high price for self-expression, panelists said.

Moore shared some of the backlash he's dealt with because of his political views.

"Within hours of being kicked off the stage at the 2003 Oscars, I returned home to find it vandalized," Moore said. "We've had to have lots of security. It's not a pleasant way to live."

Persecution isn't limited to filmmakers with hard-hitting political agendas. Director Stanley Donen, who made feel-good pictures including "Singin' in the Rain" and "Funny Face," lived in Hollywood during the 1950s during the "un-American activities" investigations involving some filmmakers.

"It was a terrifying time to live in Hollywood," Donen said, recalling some of his friends who moved to Europe during that time. "We were called 'premature anti-fascists.' It was safer to be in France than to be in the United States."

Donahue believes American complacency has evolved since the 1950s and people's values have been convoluted.

"If we criticize the war, that somehow means we don't love our troops," he said. "This is the most sanitized war in history. Every wounded veteran who came home from this war should be seen by the American public.

"Now it's all about saving face, and believe me, one more death in Iraq is not worth an old man's face. Stop wasting the blood of these young people."

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