Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018) – M. Moore

Many parts of Michael Moore’s latest documentary/essay film about US politics are profoundly depressing – in fact, I very nearly turned it off during the pre-credit scenes showing Trump’s win/Hilary’s loss (on 11/9/16).  However, thankfully he doesn’t dwell too much on Trump and his antics.  Instead, he quickly turns his attention elsewhere.  Of course, as always, he shows us Flint, Michigan (his hometown) and the unbelievably awful scandal that hit them (the governor Rick Snyder caused their water source to be switched from Lake Huron to the lead-filled Flint River, poisoning children in the predominantly African-American community).  But, as you may recall, this event happened _before_ Trump was elected (the timelines of the film are jumbled); nevertheless, Moore uses it to criticize then-President Obama, who defended Gov. Snyder and the Michigan authorities, and by extension the entire group of moderate “Wall Street” democrats (including Hilary Clinton).  He reviews how Bernie Sanders’ progressive campaign for the presidency was shutdown (illegally?) by superdelegates and he calls for the end to the electoral college system (a legacy of the slave-owning Old South). These are brave points because they require Moore to admit that he has been wrong (and he acknowledges that he has ties to Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon, who financed/distributed his movie Sicko), although he is not too tough on himself (nor should he be).  More importantly – and upliftingly – he spends time discussing the new activism of the “resistance”, first showing us the rising stars of the progressive wing of the Democrats (AOC, Rashida Tlaib) and their confrontational but effective tactics, and then the young students of Parkland, FL, who took to the streets and hit politicians hard over gun control after another school shooting took the lives of their friends.  Moore calls for more activism and for the scales to fall from our eyes about “US democracy” – although he suggests that most Americans are actually left-wingers, the political elite are billionaires controlled by corporations and inspired purely by profit and greed (Democrats and Republicans).  And of course, we have to return to Trump – Moore chooses to make an explicit parallel to Nazi Germany (aided by historians who draw the connections), showing us one of Hitler’s speeches with Trump dubbed over it.  A bit heavy-handed but apt – as are most of the stunts and clips included in the film (in  true Moore style); he wants to get attention for this message and including some brash over-the-top elements is a tried-and-true method.  In the end, I was ready for same-old, same-old (and there is some of that in the cut-and-paste editing style and meandering storyline) but was pleased to hear the (revised, energized) message and hopeful that people are listening.