Filmmaker Brian Malone ran into some trouble when trying to interview Congressmen for his documentary “Patriocracy.”
They feared he was another Michael Moore.
Malone eventually earned the trust of politicos on both sides of the aisle to complete his new film, which just had its world premiere at the Starz Denver Film Festival. The film strains to take a non-ideological look at why the current political system is in such turmoil, from the suffocating presence of lobbyists to partisan bickering of epic proportions.
For every Democratic Congressman on camera there’s a Republican member close behind him or her.
It’s everything a Moore film isn’t.
“Michael Moore has opened up a lot of doors for independent filmmakers. In that respect, I like him,” Malone says. “On a professional level, I don’t agree with his methods … he puts himself into the story quite a bit.”
“I don’t want this film to be about me,” he continues. “What I think is not important,” he says. “[The film] allows thoughtful people to make up their minds.”
“Patriocracy” examines the current political climate, from the cable news channels (Fox News, MSNBC) which stoke ideological fires to the influence of money on the political process. Malone didn’t leave the film’s balanced posture to chance. He sought out retired Denver news anchor Ed Sardella to vet some of the material included in the film.
“When I showed him segments or a portion of the script, he’d write back, ‘your bias is showing.’ He helped keep my own personal views in check,” he says.
The filmmaker’s biases nudge through all the same, like when the film attempts to connect the partisan sniping in the media to the tragic shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords earlier this year. And, when “Patriocracy” tries to show the origins of today’s ideological bickering, it connects the dots back to both Barry Goldwater and a young, fiery Newt Gingrich.
The film also lets President Barack Obama off the hook for the role his incendiary rhetoric plays, but Malone contends his film’s mission was “not to form any opinions of any particular politician.”
“Patriocracy” isn’t a 90-minute gripe session. The film wraps with potential solutions from retired Republican Congressman Mickey Edwards, from finding ways to get money out of the campaign process to something as simple as making sure politicians get to know each other. Malone says Congress typically meets from Tuesday through Thursday, with members spending the rest of the time spent in their respective districts. He compares the situation to living in a neighborhood where you don’t know the people down the street.
“It’s easier for you to demonize those people as strangers … and make assumptions about them if you don’t know them. The same thing is happening in Congress,” he says.
Malone, a former journalist, says his movie reflects his own mounting frustrations with the political system.
“I’m a small business owner in Colorado. For me, I was feeling what a lot of other Americans were feeling … I wanted to know why things weren’t working,” he says, What he found was that many politicians on both sides of the aisle truly do care and want to represent their constituents in the most effective manner possible.
The rest is up to us.
“A lot of people feel like they have no power, no voice. They do have a voice if they just apply it,” he says. “The Tea Party demonstrated that. They can change the entire direction of the country … they’ve been able to make a difference. You can argue if that difference is good, bad or ugly.”
Malone emerges from making “Patriocracy” with the same sense of hope – and skepticism – that things will get better with which he started. But he also knows he faces an uphill battle to get his film out into the public.
Striving for balance means other, more strident, filmmakers tend to shout louder.
“Now, anyone with a digital camera and an opinion can call themselves a filmmaker,” he says. “They don’t know how to get both sides of the story or double source their facts.”
“Unfortunately, those are the films that get the most attention, the most commercial value,” he says.
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