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FAHRENHEIT 11/9 Send This Review to a Friend
Michael Moore has unleashed a powerful new film that agitates for massive resistance to the Trump era that he sees as a menace to the very core of our democracy. Along the way during his in-your-face alarm he lacerates injustices, such as the poisoning of water in Flint, Michigan. Given Moore’s gift for humor, he provides entertaining segments, as when he loads a truck with Flint water and sprays it on the lawn of Michigan’s governor, who has dissembled about the lead poisoning that has infected Flint’s children with potential lasting and devastating results. His attempt to make a citizen’s arrest of the governor is a very funny moment.
Moore carries his anger to extremes, but not without justification. He surveys the enthusiastic crowds lauding Hitler in Germany, an obvious comparison to the hysterical approval by members of Trump’s base at his rallies. He examines the ranting of Hitler in German, and substitutes a voiceover of Trump ranting. Far-fetched? It is a could-happen-here warning.
Moore, who predicted a Trump victory based on his knowledge of unrest and dissent in areas that he especially knows, dramatizes at the outset the utter shock and disbelief when Trump won based on the Electoral College system.
The film, loaded with a multitude of film clips smartly included in savvy editing, a focuses on the upsurge of action by teachers and by students reacting to high school shootings, and the extent of mass protests that are occurring. “Fahrenheit 11/9” sees hope via building political resistance. Trump stresses the need for change among Democrats by youth replacing the old guard. However, he obviously is enthusiastic about the more militant goals embodied by oldster Bernie Sanders.
Yes, Moore deals in extremes as he paints a picture of what is happening in America today. But his main thesis dynamically expressed via his filming expertise and ability to tie elements together can make one think about the unthinkable—the country being led toward a path of fascism by the policies of Trump and a Congress that goes along with them. His film dynamically and frighteningly sounds the alarm bell for needing to act before it is too late. A Briarcliff Entertainment release. Reviewed September 21, 2018.
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