Remember the crowds waiting to see "Fahrenheit 9-11" at the Varsity Theatre back in 2004? The lines for Michael Moore's anti-George W. Bush documentary went up and down the central block of Franklin Street with many weeks of sold-out shows that summer.

A few years later, Moore's follow-up, "Sicko," also packed them in at the landmark downtown theater. Even without the pre-election impactof the previous outing it appeared that Moore's cinematic diatribes would have a healthy home at the historic movie house for years to come.

Cut to the current day with the opening of Moore's latest film, "Capitalism: A Love Story," and it's sad to be reminded that there is no longer a home for it or any theatrical showing on Franklin Street. It's been several months since the Varsity closed, but it has yet to fully sink in for me. A new Michael Moore movie opening is salt on the wound.

I started working part-time at the Varsity during the days that "Fahrenheit 9-11" appeared to be mandatory viewing in Chapel Hill. I felt the strong sense of community coming from the applause at the film's end and the many heated discussions in the lobby afterward. I was sure that this film would make enough of a difference to change the outcome of the 2004 election and as moviegoer believers we were all going to be a part of that change.

Of course, that didn't happen. Box office receipts don't equal polling data; Orange County's liberal majority does not accurately represent the rest of the country. Now it seems silly now to look back and think that sold-out crowds for a biased anti-Bush documentary would add up to a win for Democratic candidate John Kerry, but I sure did at the time.

Michael Moore is a skilled film maker who knows what buttons to push; he sculpts a convincing mosaic of found footage to make his point, and the results are often as powerful as they are controversial. If you agree with him, he's a hero fighting the good fight. If you don't, he's an irresponsible muckraker who must be stopped.

Years ago when I worked at VisArt video, often we'd put on his movies and TV shows like "TV Nation" and "The Awful Truth." Most who entered laughed at his antics and agreed with his arguments but there were a few who shook their heads or even complained about his mug on our monitors. Stupidly, those were the folks that I discounted. Their opinions meant as much as those of the Moore fans who stood in line as far down the block as Spanky's to see his latest movie.

So with the Varsity closed , a Michael Moore movie is no longer the local event it once was. Sure, "Capitalism: A Love Story" is playing at the Chelsea, but Timberlyne, far from the heart of Chapel Hill, is just not the same.

The Varsity Theatre is a much missed institution, with or without Moore movies. The release of his new politically provocative polemic leaves me missing that communal meeting place even more. However, I just heard that a religious group (Love Chapel Hill) has just started using the theater for Sunday services. While I prefer to have celluloid images on the screens, maybe some comfort can be gleaned from local folks back in the seats.