Kopple - Maverick Award Winner

Originally uploaded by aavarnum.

This weekend I attended the Woodstock Film Festival where Barbara Kopple was being honored with the festival’s own “Maverick” Award. The description was a little vague but it was clear that Koople was receiving the award because of her stalwart efforts to raise the voices of her subjects. As she was speaking at the awards ceremony about her work, I couldn’t help but think back to a film I saw earlier in the week, An Unreasonable Man by Henriette Mantel and Steve Skrovan as part of the Stranger Than Fiction Series at the IFC Center.

Co-presented with HotDocs, An Unreasonable Man is about the life of Ralph Nader, the much maligned independent politician without whom you may not have federally mandated car seatbelts or airbags, the Freedom of Information Act, or OSHA work safety regulations, to name just a smattering of his accomplishments. I must admit that I never knew much about him and while many blame him alone for the Bush presidency (how about blaming the 50% or so of the voters that back the quack or the man himself?), I walked away from the film with new respect for Nader and his mission. Yet, discussion around the film still seems to be that he cost the Democrats the election both in 2000 and 2004 rather than about the real need for a shift in dialogue in this country.

Kopple’s words while accepting her award about her work were definitely a call to speaking out even when it is unpopular (hence her new film, Shut Up & Sing, being distributed by The Weinstein Company). Nader’s whole point for running was to call attention to the fact that both parties are in dire need of reform, that the election process is broken and that public good is not being served by politicians in Washington DC. With Nader’s record, you’d be a fool to argue that he doesn’t have a pretty good idea about public good. Nader made what in hindsight is an unpopular decision, but I think he is one of the bravest men alive.

And while I’ll readily admit to being a huge fan of their music, The Dixie Chicks also have suffered from the same swing in public opinion as Nader. What both films show me is how tenuous free speech is in America, how we pretend to honor independent spirit but as soon as the majority is challenged, dissenters face violent opposition, and worst of all, that as a result, our democracy is very weak for the simple fact that we cannot have a dialogue.

I’m glad both movies are out there, but I hope people watch and think about what these stories mean for us, not whether you like The Chicks music or voted for Nader for president.