Michael Moore wants mother of dead soldier in next movie

Published on Sunday 12 December 2004 02:45

THE scourge of American neo-Conservatives is to visit a Scottish council house in the latest phase of his campaign to vilify the most powerful man on earth.

US film-maker Michael Moore, whose anti-President Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 polarised opinion across the globe, is to film part of his follow-up in Glasgow, where he will interview the mother of a Scots soldier killed in Iraq.

Rose Gentle, the mother of Gordon Gentle, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Basra in June, has been approached by Moore’s team and agreed to be interviewed for Fahrenheit 9/11 1/2.

Gentle has emerged as one of the most trenchant critics of the Iraq war since the death of her 19-year-old son, who served with the Royal Highland Fusiliers.

She told Scotland on Sunday that she had been contacted by a US-based associate of Moore, who had asked her to tell the director about her details and the story of her son, ahead of Moore coming to Scotland to speak to her.

Gentle, who lives with her husband in their terraced council home in Pollok where her only son grew up, said she had been surprised by the approach from the world-famous film-maker.

She said: "It was a bit of a shock, actually. Michael Moore asked [an assistant called] Dante to ask me to send a letter through e-mail to him explaining about Gordon and everything.

"I can’t believe I have been in touch with Michael Moore. Now we’re just waiting to hear about dates and arrangements.

"We don’t know when exactly the filming will take place. Some time next year, is the plan so far. We’ll know about dates after Christmas and the New Year."

Gentle added that she had been extremely impressed by Moore’s controversial film on Bush and the September 11 tragedy, which sparked huge international controversy.

She said: "I watched his film and the truth was out in that film. So if people watched that film they would know the truth. I have been showing it around Pollok."

Gentle added that she had been surprised by the way she had become a centre of national and international attention because of her stance on the war.

She said: "I never expected to be at the forefront of any kind of campaign. I’m just Gordon’s mum."

She added: "I don’t think that any of the boys should be there, I really don’t. I’m not against the army or anything like that, definitely not. It’s the government I’m against. He joined up to fight for our country, not for all the lies being said."

One of the factors Moore is expected to focus on in his new film is the fact many soldiers, both in the US and UK armed forces, come from the poorer areas of their countries such as the small towns of the American mid-west and deprived areas of British inner cities such as Pollok.

However, the many critics of the documentary accuse Moore - and critics of the war - of playing down the horrific reality of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Tom Harris, the Labour MP for Glasgow Cathcart, said: "I would never criticise Rose Gentle, I cannot imagine what she is going through.

"But my problem is this: I envy those people who see the world and the Iraq war in the kind of black and white way we get from Michael Moore.

"I am actually a great fan of Michael Moore, I think he’s a great film-maker and I love his films. I watched Fahrenheit 9/11 in America at the Democratic convention.

"In his film, the only portrayal we had from pre-war Iraq was footage of a wedding and a child flying a kite.

"That was ideal propaganda for the regime. I do wish that there had been more about what the Saddam Hussein regime was actually like."

Moore was uncharacteristically quiet when Scotland on Sunday asked him about his plans.

His Los Angeles-based agent referred queries to his New York-based publicist, who did not reply to a telephone call or an e-mail.

Private Gentle was killed just weeks after completing his training. His mother has accused the Ministry of Defence of being negligent by breaching its duty of care towards her son.

The Gentle family said they believed the blast that killed their son was triggered remotely and the attack could have been prevented if his vehicle had been fitted with the right equipment - claims denied by the Ministry of Defence. Last month Moore confirmed he was planning a follow-up to Fahrenheit 9/11.

In it, the film-maker accused the Bush presidency of corporate corruption, unnecessary war and political favouritism toward Osama bin Laden’s family and Saudi oil partners following the terrorist attacks on New York City.

The film won the Palme d’Or honours at Cannes but critics of Moore have accused him of being selective with the facts. One of the contested claims is that in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, Bush allowed his friends in the Saudi Arabian royal family to flee America when a no-fly ban was in place. Moore’s critics have countered that the planes carrying the Saudis in fact took off after US airspace reopened.

Explaining his rationale for making the new film, Moore said: "Fifty-one per cent of the American people lacked information [in the November 2004 presidential election] and we want to educate and enlighten them.

"They weren’t told the truth. We’re communicators and it’s up to us to start doing it now."

Fahrenheit 9/11 is estimated to have earned over 100m across the world, making it the highest-earning documentary film ever.

Moore, who won the documentary Academy Award for Bowling for Columbine in 2002, is pushing Fahrenheit 9/11 in the best-picture category for the upcoming Oscars.