Another Viewer of Troubled Waters

by People With No Ax to Grind:

"We’re not agriculture experts, but it wasn’t obvious to us as lay viewers how this film vilifies agriculture."

From MPR:

MPR reporter Tim Post and I [Alex Friedrich] just got out of a screening of Troubled Waters: A Mississippi River Story, the environmental documentary that recently had its premiere cancelled by the University of Minnesota for reasons that haven’t been entirely explained.

Last week, Al Levine, dean of the University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, told MPR reporter Stephanie Hemphill that the film “vilifies” agriculture. (Levine, however, says he did not ask to have the film’s premiere canceled.)

[So, ah, who EXACTLY canceled it, Al?]

After the screening at the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, Director Susan Thornton said, “The film does not vilify agriculture.”

Post later called Levine from the U’s ag college to get some clarity on what parts vilified agriculture. Levine, however, referred us to University spokesman Dan Wolter, who declined to comment.

[See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil?]

I’ve seen a number of movies by Michael Moore, the documentary film maker known for his polemics and his grandstanding. Even when I understand some of the points he’s trying to make, I know when he’s going over the top. I know when he’s being lopsided.

I just didn’t get that Michael Moore feeling when I walked out.