Independent America Screening

I'm a bit late with this, but I did end up going to the Independent America screening at Pioneer Theater, the perfect place to screen it.

The film has a great concept - driving cross country taking only local highways (no super highways) and stopping/eating/sleeping at only independent mom and pop stores. A former intern happened to be in NY and happened to be doing just this very thing, only his route is from Ohio to the Atlantic Ocean up to Canada and back to Ohio (I think) - and he came to the screening with me. We both thought the movie was fun - less shrill than other anti-big box movies (my opinion) and therefore perhaps more palatable for people who are on the fence about the effect of corporate chains. Who could ever say that they don't like mom-and-pop's? And anyone who had seen Greenwald's "The High Price of Low Cost" won't be more enlightened by the Wal-Mart reveals.

Both Heather Hughes and Hanson Hosein are much more articulate than your average on-the-roadsters, a reflection of their network journalism days. It would have been nice to see more of the evolution of their relationship throughout the movie. It's clear that being on the road, driving relatively slow (compared to interstates) and being limited to only independents is a foil to how the counter-trend might impact so many families across America who have choices limited by the proliferation of corporate chains and mass commuting patterns.