BuzzFlash Reviews

October, 2004

Mark Crispin Miller's "A Patriot Act" (DVD)

BUZZFLASH REVIEWS

As we've said before, one of the pleasures of supporting a website solely by offering progressive premiums is that we get to pick the best of the best. Unlike a movie reviewer for instance, we don't have to offer or write about premiums we don't particularly think are worthy of passing on.

The reality is that we get far too many great premiums, far more than we can post at three a week.

But every once in a while, we come across a premium that so hits home, that is so "BuzzFlashian," we are just a little taken aback. And that is the case with Mark Crispin Miller's "A Patriot Act."

This DVD is a recording of Miller's one person documented rant against the treachery of the Bush administration. His only companion on stage is an inventive magician who does brilliant things with American flags and uses a pointer to identify the key villains in the Bush Cartel constellation.

Miller is the brilliant author of "The Bush Dyslexicon" (and the recently released "Cruel and Unusual") and is an expert on deconstructing Bush Speak. Beyond that, it is important to mention that Miller is driven --one may say consumed -- by the deviousness and lying of Bush and his administration. That doesn't make him unique, but not everyone is as brilliantly insightful as Miller.

Miller, who is a Chicago native and NYU Professor, takes the viewer on an analytical journey through Bush World. Don't expect much action. Miller is seated most of the time, Woody Allenesque in his anguish and perplexity at how America has arrived at a moment that it is being ruled by someone who so diminishes our democracy with his duplicity and ineptness (we're talking Senor Bush here).

The "Patriot Act" reminded us of the monologue productions of the late Spaulding Gray, a master of weaving you into his mind as he detailed his life. But in this case, Miller performs a duty somewhat like what occurred in "Being John Malkovich." Miller takes you into the mind of Bush. A scary thought indeed, but Miller is always there to hold your hand as he cringes in astonishment along with you.

We've interviewed Mark Miller many a time, as well as his brother Bruce, who collected a premium we sell that gathers together the demented, often violent rantings of right wing "celebrities." All we can say is that if current politics exists on three levels -- what you see, what you don't see, and what the Bush Cartel wants you to see -- Mark Miller is the expert spelunker (cave explorer) who takes you on an expedition into the dark underside of what you see.

We can't recommend this video highly enough for those who want to share in the intellectual anguish over how the Bush administration has trashed democracy. You will better understand the mind of Bush after this DVD, and weep for what we have lost over the past four years.

But Miller is a self-described patriot -- and he's not ready to give up. His act ends with an exhortation to throw the Bush Barbary Pirates off the ship of state and restore democracy.

See it before you go to the voting booth!

BUZZFLASH REVIEWS