Fahrenheit 11/9 (15.)
Directed by Michael Moore.
Starring Michael Moore, Donald Trump. 124 mins.
Having done Bush W, Michael Moore takes on Trump J in a film that in any well-ordered calendar would be called Fahrenheit 9/11, taking as its starting point the day after he was elected in November 2016. Two hours with an overweight egotist, an attention seeker in love with the sound of his own voice, apt to stretch the facts to fit his theory who like to hang out with celebrities while posing as a man of the people: still he's made a few good films. And surprisingly this is one of them. His previous film Where To Invade Next made him look like a spent force but this one has an unexpected force and clarity.
It begins with the notion that Trump never seriously intended to become President and ends with him being compared to Hitler. A lot of the points inbetween are things you already knew but given more depth: seeing how blatantly the Democrat Party machine stole the nomination from Bernie Saunders; Trump's quesy sexual fixation with daughter Ivanka. The sequence where a Trump speech in played over footage of a Hitler speech is a cheap shot but funny, though Mussolini would've worked better: Trump's body language is pure Il Duce, especially his arm folded in defiance stance.
Moore's target though isn't the man but the whole corrupt political system that produced him. Even Obama, who Moore was so enthusiastic about in Capitalism: A Love Story, gets ripped to shreds. It's a system so corrupt that Trump, blatantly and shamelessly corrupt but not underhand, seems like a breath of fresh air.
For the fresh material, Moore goes back to poor old Flint, Michigan. Moore's success has been made off of the back of his hometown's woes, right from his first film Roger and Me. Having overseen the collapse of industry that has left the place a ghost town, Moore now finds his hometown being poisoned by the water. After Governor Rick Synder, another businessman with no political experience, was elected he closed the pipe bringing fresh water from Lake Huron and swiched the supply to the polluted River Flint, lead poisoning the population. Flint woes predate Michael Moore, but you have to wonder if it now gets picked on because of him. Even Obama flies in to trash the place.
The problem with Fahrenheit 11/9 is that making films about Trump is self defeating. Nobody gulps down the oxygen of bad publicity quite like him. Our anger is his energy. The merit of this film though is that it has a positive message; focusing on a grassroots political movements that could yet rescue the country, and bring some sanity back to its politics. One way or another Trump has brought us to a tipping point, and the film suggests that by overflowing the swamp Trump may provoke a great righteous purge to wash through politics. It's a lovely idea, but remember that history shows us that nothing has every gotten any better after Michael Moore made a film about it.
Directed by Michael Moore.
Starring Michael Moore, Donald Trump. 124 mins.
Having done Bush W, Michael Moore takes on Trump J in a film that in any well-ordered calendar would be called Fahrenheit 9/11, taking as its starting point the day after he was elected in November 2016. Two hours with an overweight egotist, an attention seeker in love with the sound of his own voice, apt to stretch the facts to fit his theory who like to hang out with celebrities while posing as a man of the people: still he's made a few good films. And surprisingly this is one of them. His previous film Where To Invade Next made him look like a spent force but this one has an unexpected force and clarity.
It begins with the notion that Trump never seriously intended to become President and ends with him being compared to Hitler. A lot of the points inbetween are things you already knew but given more depth: seeing how blatantly the Democrat Party machine stole the nomination from Bernie Saunders; Trump's quesy sexual fixation with daughter Ivanka. The sequence where a Trump speech in played over footage of a Hitler speech is a cheap shot but funny, though Mussolini would've worked better: Trump's body language is pure Il Duce, especially his arm folded in defiance stance.
Moore's target though isn't the man but the whole corrupt political system that produced him. Even Obama, who Moore was so enthusiastic about in Capitalism: A Love Story, gets ripped to shreds. It's a system so corrupt that Trump, blatantly and shamelessly corrupt but not underhand, seems like a breath of fresh air.
For the fresh material, Moore goes back to poor old Flint, Michigan. Moore's success has been made off of the back of his hometown's woes, right from his first film Roger and Me. Having overseen the collapse of industry that has left the place a ghost town, Moore now finds his hometown being poisoned by the water. After Governor Rick Synder, another businessman with no political experience, was elected he closed the pipe bringing fresh water from Lake Huron and swiched the supply to the polluted River Flint, lead poisoning the population. Flint woes predate Michael Moore, but you have to wonder if it now gets picked on because of him. Even Obama flies in to trash the place.
The problem with Fahrenheit 11/9 is that making films about Trump is self defeating. Nobody gulps down the oxygen of bad publicity quite like him. Our anger is his energy. The merit of this film though is that it has a positive message; focusing on a grassroots political movements that could yet rescue the country, and bring some sanity back to its politics. One way or another Trump has brought us to a tipping point, and the film suggests that by overflowing the swamp Trump may provoke a great righteous purge to wash through politics. It's a lovely idea, but remember that history shows us that nothing has every gotten any better after Michael Moore made a film about it.
