FAHRENHEIT 11/9 – A Review by Hollywood Hernandez
Filmmaker Roger Moore has made a series of comedic documentaries over the years that have had one thing in common; they were all super critical of the far right wing of the Republican party. However, in Fahrenheit 11/9 (the day Trump won the presidential election), Moore goes in on both sides of the political aisle and shows how money and corruption are running the U.S. political process.
Some of the movie is funny, some parts are sad and some parts of the movie are hopeful as he shows some great examples of how things can be changed for the better from the grassroots level. His plan in the movie seems to be let's just blow things up and start all over again.
His point in the film is that we created Donald Trump by alienating the minority voter with corrupt politics and by rallying "Joe Q Redneck" with his message of hate aimed at non-whites, Muslims and at immigrants. Moore also shows some eerily similar footage of Hitler exposing a very similar message.
The film shows Trump as a corrupt, misogynistic, egomaniac who is just plain mean. Moore relates a story where a reporter asks him if he ever gets tired of being "the eye of the storm?" Trump's overinflated ego answers, "I am the storm."
Of course, Moore spends some time in his hometown of Flint, MI where he reports on the tainted water that is killing the children of Flint. He places the blame on Michigan Governor Rick Snyder. Snyder built a pipeline, making huge sums of money for its investors, and piping in polluted water as the city's water supply. Of course, when the water starts to ruin the finish on the cars of the remaining GM plant in Flint, he switches back to the old source of water, but only for the car plant and not the people.
A really heartbreaking moment in the movie is when President Obama comes to town and, obviously in a staged bit, coughs and asks for a glass of water. You can hear the audience noticeable groan as Obama takes a sip if the polluted water (looking up close Moore shows that Obama only touches his lips with the tainted water). Interviewing the parents who attended, you can see and hear how disappointed they are with Obama. They were expecting help from their president and felt betrayed that instead, he vouched for the other side. The movie also mentions that Obama received more money from Goldman Sachs, one of the largest investment banks in the world, than any other presidential candidate.
Moore covers a lot of ground in Fahrenheit 11/9, perhaps too much in a movie that runs 2 hours and 2 minutes. Hopefully, the movie will be a thought starter that will get people to talk about the way the government in this country has become so corrupt. The movie is rated R for some adult language. On my "Hollywood Popcorn Movie Scale" I rate it a JUMBO.
