Michael Moore's latest documentary, "Slacker Uprising," is not playing in a theater near you. It's playing practically everywhere else - on TVs, computers, cell phones or wherever else you wish to download 1.04 gigs.

Moore made the film - which chronicles his 2004 get-out-the-vote college tour - available for a free download, as of Tuesday. On the movie's web site, Moore sent this message:

"I'm giving you my blanket permission to not only download it, but also to email it, burn it, and share it with anyone and everyone (in the U.S. and Canada only). I want you to use 'Slacker Uprising' in any way you see fit to help with the election or to do the work that you do in your community. You can show my film in your local theater, your high school classroom, your college auditorium, your church, union hall or community center. You can have your friends and neighbors over to the house for a viewing. You can broadcast it on TV, on cable access, on regular channels or on the web. It's completely free - I don't want to see a dime from this. And if you want, you can charge admission or ask for a donation if it's to raise money for a candidate, a voter drive, or for any non-profit or educational purpose. In other words - it's yours!"

Some are taking Moore up on the challenge. BYU College Democrats (yes, both of them - ha, ha) had a screening on campus Tuesday night.

The movie will be of interest for Utahns because the state is prominently featured in one segment (pictured above). Moore, as you may recall, brought his tour to Utah Valley State College (now Utah Valley University) and raised a ruckus - including the efforts of one Kay Anderson, who offered student-government officials $25,000 to cancel Moore's appearance.

I'll post a brief review of the movie here later, as soon as the sucker downloads on my iTunes account. Only five hours to go!

(UPDATE: I got an e-mail from Austin Smith, who organized the BYU screening, which was enjoyed by about 50 people. "It was kind of a depressing ending for liberals since of course Bush did get elected, but I felt the movie was a warning voice, and it definitely inspired me to try even harder to get a progressive candidate elected this November, specifically through encouraging people my age to vote," Smith wrote.)

(Photo: Brave New Films)

Labels: politics, Utah Valley University