In the documentary about the life and work of activist historian Howard Zinn, You Can't be Neutral on a Moving Train, he cites as one of his earliest political influences Woody Guthrie's song “The Ludlow Massacre”. Zinn has been a fighter for social causes for the better part of 60 years, so it's interesting that one simple song is where he started.

But songs are never all that simple.

There is a scene from Fahrenheit 9/11 that has always stuck with me, that of the U.S. soldiers playing a rock soundtrack to the invasion of Iraq, plugging their CD players into their helmets and singing “The Roof is on Fire” while they shoot the shit out of anything that moves. Whether this is a conscious decision to ape Apocalypse Now or not doesn't really matter. Movies are life and life has become one big movie, but both sides need a song to sing. Michael Moore's 9/11 uses music as an ironic counterpoint to the action and as a bolstering effect all the way through, but he is not alone in creating a sound track for these changing times.

MTV married with movies

Films To See Before You Vote is one of the many campaigns organized to bring the Bushy boys to heel. It uses movies to enact and inspire political action. Take a look, or rather a listen, to the sounds and you'll hear music from Moby, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Don Henley, Philip Glass and our friend Woody (whose iconic “This Land is your Land” was recently used in the animated clip of Kerry and Bush). MTV married with movies is a powerful combination for those raised on the synthesis of sound and image and this is protest music for the Rock the Vote generation.

Peter Broderick, one of the organizers behind Films To See Before You Vote says, "What we do is offer 7 or 8 features in a box. The screenings can take place at college campuses, in an art gallery or a living room. The entire idea is to start a discussion about the issues presented in a film." Similar to what Moveon.org has done with Outfoxed, Films to See Before You Vote presents a broad collection of both new documentaries (9/11, Control Room, Horns and Halos, Hijacking Catastrophe) and older dramas like Wag the Dog, Three Kings.

What would any political film be without its rabble rousing songs: Apocalypse Now without the Doors or David O. Russell's Three Kings without the Beach Boys? Even the boys from South Park are wise to the penetrating power of a catchy tune, be it ironic or not (“America Fuck Yeah!”) May the best song win.

Anthems for a new era

Bill Clinton may have had Streisand and Fleetwood Mac on his side when he was elected, but this year the rockers, the punks and the folkies have all united in the big Bush bash. Rage Against the Machine front man Zack de la Rocha is currently touring with Michael Moore handing out ramen noodles and clean underwear. Le Tigre's new album offers up dance music with a political beat and Bruce Springsteen speaks up in the New York Times.

A recent column from Salon's Thomas Bartlett ("Crank the volume Where are the new Marleys and Lennons?") offered up some 25 new protest anthems. But there have also been a number of records with more mainstream rockers contributing their shrieking voices to the cause. Future Soundtrack for America, a CD to benefit MoveOn.org, featured Blink-182, David Byrne, The Flaming Lips, R.E.M., Sleater-Kinney, Tom Waits, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Rock Against Bush Volumes I & II offers up angry young man music from bands like Sum 41, OffSpring, No Doubt, The Foo Fighters and Green Day. There are also a number of websites such as Music for America and punkvoter.com organized to mobilize the youth vote.

And Eminem’s “Mosh” is mashing Dubya all over the airwaves and net.

Songs and Artists That Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11 was released earlier this month, with Moore’s explanation of his musical choices. "When I make a film, I take my portable CD case and place in it a series of albums which contain music that reflects the mood I am in and the reasons that are motivating me to make this film. I play these CDs for myself and for my crew. Sometimes we have them playing in the van while we are driving around and filming. Sometimes I listen to them at night, thinking about what I want to accomplish the next day on the shoot. It is not easy to crash Capitol Hill to ask Congressmen if they would like to send THEIR sons to Iraq. Music helps get us there."

World ‘worth fighting for’

The same nation that produced Woody Guthrie also gave him lots of things to sing about; poverty, injustice, racial hatred and war.

After September 11, James Lee Burke (God, how I love James Lee Burke) wrote an essay for The Nation magazine which seemed to sum up all the terrible contradictions of being an American citizen at this point in history. I quote it here at length, but go read the whole thing.

"What does it all mean? For me, the answer is simple. The potential in human beings for either good or evil seems limitless. When I return to our home in Louisiana, on Bayou Teche, a tidal stream on which members of my family have lived since 1836, I look at the red sun beyond the live oaks on the bayou, the smoke from stubble fires drifting off the fields, the hammered gold-and-purple light on the sugarcane, and in the gloaming of the day I want to see the moment caught forever inside a photographer's lens, before the land developers and the builders of strip malls and discount stores have their way with what I think are the gifts of both Heaven and Earth.

“A character in Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls says, ‘The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for.’ St. Paul talked about fighting the good fight. I think both men understood the ongoing nature of the struggle and the fact that the contest is never over, the field never quite ours. To be a participant, though, in whatever small capacity, is nonetheless a grand and ennobling experience. Sometimes on I-25 I think I hear Woody Guthrie's voice on the wind. It's a wonderful feeling to belong to both the past and the future and to be linked in spirit and vision to those who perhaps represent everything that is good and brave and decent in the human family.

“At least it has been for me."

Dorothy Woodend’s film reviews for The Tyee run every Friday.