Late last Friday, I got an email from indieWIRE’s Eugene Hernandez, pointing me to this, an “open letter” from film producer/professor John Pierson to his former friend and colleague, Sicko director MIchael Moore. I was traveling at the time and didn’t get a chance to read the letter until today. An exemplary excerpt:

You’re on the side of the fucking angels with SiCKO and no lapses, omissions or oversimplifications can detract from its contribution to the greater good. But please baby please, let the movie, which you have so beautifully made, do the talking.

My instant reaction was that Pierson’s letter, which is in some ways meant as propaganda in favor of Manufacturing Dissent (the pseudo-expose of Moore in which Pierson appears, and which recently provoked an expletive-laced reaction from its subject), managed to put forth the arguments made in that film with a clarity and aggression sorely missing from the film itself.

Still, as Agnes Varnum points out, why would Pierson suddenly feel the need to order Moore to “get out of the way”? And considering Sicko is already the least Moore-centric Michael Moore film in a good long while, what would that even mean? “I asked Eugene why this letter now? What bug is in Pierson\’s britches? He let me know that there was an article in the LA Times that might have caused some bristling.” Varnum then goes on to read that LA Times article and conclude that Moore “is as phony and as hypocritical as they come.” Point: Pierson.

If you haven’t yet, you really should read Pierson’s missive in full. Make sure to scroll down to the comments, where Pierson and a Moore supporter beat the “did Moore really interview Roger Smith?” dead horse for a couple of rounds, before other commenters (most apparently in opposition to Pierson) begin to debate the importance of fact vs. fiction within the context of documentary filmmaking. Though he’s certainly not explicit about it, I think you could argue that the letter is Pierson’s acknowledgment that, as Dissent seems to be in no danger of receiving a release to rival that of Sicko, the internet might be the only place for that debate.

More on Spout:

Sicko
Manufacturing Dissent
Roger & Me