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Airline draws filmmaker's eye
by Martin J. Moylan
The struggles of bankrupt Northwest Airlines and its employees will be the subject of documentary by Dawn Mikkelson, an independent documentary filmmaker in St. Paul.
Mikkelson says she wants to get management's perspective but she'll focus on the mechanics, flight attendants, pilots and other employees whose lives are being dramatically changed. Northwest has been enacting deep wage cuts and slashing thousands of jobs in an effort to regain profitability.
"The Red Tail will explore this battle over money, power, and pride," says the Web site for the film, redtailmovie.com.
This is Mikkelson's fourth documentary feature. Her most recent film, Green Green Water, details the effects of hydroelectric dams on the aboriginal Pimicikamak and Nisichawayasihk Cree Nations of northern Manitoba.
Northwest raises many intriguing issues, including globalization and the struggle of unions to maintain power and intense competition.
Mikkelson noted that she recently flew to Seattle for about what she paid in the late '80s. "As a small business owner, I can't imagine how you can run your business without increasing your rates," she said.
Within a month or so, Mikkelson hopes to begin production, completing the film by next November. Meanwhile, she's looking to raise money to fund the production, which will cost about $300,000.
The Red Tail will not be anything like Roger and Me, Michael Moore's documentary about General Motors, insists Mikkelson.
"I have no desire to do a Roger and Me," she says. "It had a clear set of good and bad guys. The issues at Northwest are not that clear-cut."
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