'Go Further,' It's Real Simple
By Desson Thomson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 5, 2004; Page WE36
LINK: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25208-2004Nov4.html

WOODY HARRELSON doesn't want to stop at "Grass." That would be the 1999 documentary, which he narrated, extolling the virtues of marijuana and the stiff resistance to its use on the part of the U.S. government and the media. In "Go Further," a warmly spirited travel diary of a movie, director Ron Mann (who also made "Grass") follows the actor as he leads a bus tour intended to promote an alternative lifestyle.

Alternative, that is, to biotechnologically processed foods, such as milk, Big Macs and chocolate. On this 2001 "SOL Tour" (which stands for "simple organic living"), Harrelson visits colleges between Seattle and Los Angeles, advocating the positive uses of hemp, a product that can be used for food, clothing and even fuel. Harrelson's Ken Kesey-styled, flamboyantly decorated tour bus, for instance, runs on hempseed oil. And his posse of friends and fellow activists, including his own raw-food chef and yoga instructor, wear hemp clothes and eat hemp-derived foods.
Hemp can reduce dependence on paper products, Harrelson points out, which could help stop deforestation of the Earth, and the ongoing extinction of many animals and birds. And he also advocates vegetarianism, organic farming, solar power and zero pesticides.

It may sound like the No Fun Tour, but thanks to Harrelson's winning, almost goofy ways, the whole thing feels like a clown revolution. He charms lumber company security guards, students and anyone who'll listen, even when he's dispensing didactic or gross-out facts. Milk from hormonally raised cows, Harrelson repeatedly tells audiences, is filled with blood and pus.

I may never eat cornflakes again.

Harrelson has a pretty funny sidekick: Steve Clark, an activist convert, or near-convert, whose struggles with his smoking habits, as well as his chocolate jones every time he passes a 7-Eleven, can be pretty amusing. Spirulina only goes so far for the Steve-O. But he's got a mind to make this lifestyle work. In one hilarious scene, he stops a truck full of zoned-out meth users and persuades them to try some seaweed cookies. Talk about the dude leading the dudes.

Structurally, there isn't a whole lot to talk about. Director Mann, who also made "Comic Book Confidential" and "Twist," simply follows Harrelson and his crowd around, as they talk to students, or visit a cool worm farm, or spend time with Ken Kesey and his original, now rundown rust-bus he and his Merry Pranksters rode around for his war-protest stunts in the 1960s.

This film is about a spirit that's pretty hard to resist. Harrelson gets his message (with such slogans as "Say No to Corndogs") across patiently, disarmingly, either persuading a crowd at a time or a person at a time. (Although not everyone is thrilled to see Harrelson's bicycle sporting a Stars and Stripes flag purposely turned upside down.) We see the tour's easygoing influence on a British student named Linda, who impulsively joins them on tour, bicycles around with Harrelson and appears to get very friendly with Steve in the bargain. It's the kind of person-to-person revolution Harrelson's looking for. No pressure, no fuss, just gentle persuasion. Works like a charm.

GO FURTHER (Unrated, 80 minutes) -- Contains momentary marijuana smoking and discussion, and brief semi-nudity. At Landmark's E Street Cinema.
LINK: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25243-2004Nov4.html

Woody Harrelson, Furthering the Cause
Friday, November 5, 2004; Page WE41 WOODY HARRELSON is calling on speaker phone from Eugene, Ore. That's because, he says, he just climbed a mountain ("I don't know what it's called, I call it beautiful") and he's doing his stretches. Between contortions, or whatever lotus this-or-that he's doing, he talks about "Go Further," the travel-diary documentary by Ron Mann, which opens Friday. (See review on Page 36.) It documents a 2001 West Coast bus tour organized by the actor to draw attention to the things he's concerned about, such as pollution of air and water, deforestation and the increasing amount of biotechnology affecting the world's food supply. On the trip, known as the "SOL (simple organic living) Tour," he brought along a handful of allies, including his raw-food chef, yoga instructor and a former production executive named Steve Clark, whose good intentions to lead the good life are hampered by a powerful addiction to junk food.

"I think the guy's amazing," says Harrelson about Clark. "The most electrifying guy. He's the life of any party he goes to. I love him. I'm hoping the movie does well for him to the point where he -- I think he'd be great on a TV reality show. People like me are self-conscious with a camera around. Put on him and he just goes, and it's glorious." Clark's a useful comedic element in a film with a serious ideological agenda. "I see it as the little movie that could," says Harrelson, who has started up his tour again and is promoting the movie in Portland, Seattle and San Francisco. The tour is about "sustainability. It's about using no-wood paper instead of wood paper, using bio-diesel instead of regular diesel or ethanol instead of gasoline. I've worn these hemp and organic fabric clothes. It's about consciousness. I don't want pesticides to be used for textiles and my clothes." He directs his listener to his Web site www.VoiceYourself.org <http://www.voiceyourself.org/> , a nonprofit endeavor that is Harrelson's attempt to articulate his philosophy, vision and alliances with similar groups. It also features a poem he wrote, after a dream in which he visited the White House with a woman friend called America, who caught the eye of President Bush and, well, it's a little too salty to relate here. With his Web site and activism, Harrelson wants to appeal to what he considers to be a growing number of concerned people, whom he dubs "cultural creatives." "They look at what is happening in our society, which is dominated by industrial interests that are detrimental to the environment and getting fat subsidies and tax breaks, and controlling the economy and the body politic." Harrelson, who took off five years to pursue his activism, says he's back in the thick of moviemaking. But he intends to keep going with his bus and consciousness-raising whenever he can spare the time. "2005 is looking backed-up right now," he says, referring to his acting schedule. "But I want to take a month and do some tour on the East Coast. Probably start out in Toronto. Right now it's a mental blueprint." He notes with irony that the release of "Go Further" in Washington coincides with "After the Sunset," a major movie about a master thief, featuring Pierce Brosnan and himself. "You got one movie with a production budget of $40 million. And the other with a budget of, like, 40 bucks." No guesses as to which is which. After the 7 p.m. Friday screening of "Go Further" at Landmark's E Street Cinema (11th and E streets NW; 202-783-9494 for more information), Danielle Rolli, farm manager at Community Harvest, will discuss the program at Urban Oasis Farm, a living-learning program for youth, and will discuss food production issues. Scheduled for Saturday's 7 p.m. after-show discussion are Josh Balk from Compassion Over Killing, who'll advocate the social and personal benefits of a vegetarian diet, and Chef DJ, who'll distribute samples from Java Green restaurant's all-vegetarian menu. And after the 2:10 Sunday screening, yoga practitioners will discuss and share the benefits of yoga.