‘Fahrenheit 11/9’ movie review

For those liberals expecting Michael Moore to completely rip Donald Trump to shreds in his latest documentary ‘Fahrenheit 11/9,’ might be a tad disappointed.  Although he does take shots at our 45^th President of the United States, the filmmaker casts a wider net as to why our broken political system was perfect timing for Trump to get elected.  There is plenty of blame to go around including establishment Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama.  Moore points the finger at several for the current state of affairs in our country.  He criticizes the system that disenfranchises voters, mistreats the poor and allows corruption to flourish.  His approach may seem scattershot at times but in classic Michael Moore style, ‘Fahrenheit 11/9’ is provocative food for thought.

The film wastes no time covering how Donald Trump rose to power.  The actual title ‘Fahrenheit 11/9’ represents the day Trump became president-elect.  In a hilarious montage, we observe Clinton supporters thinking they have the election in the bag while the annoying ‘Fight Song’ by Rachel Platten keeps playing in the background.  Then suddenly out of nowhere, Trump begins to win critical swing states.  These were the states where unemployment was high and voters felt ignored by the establishment.  The song changes to “Vesti la giubba” (laugh clown) and Clinton supporters are now in tears as Trump slowly takes the presidency away from them.  Moore then directs the question to the viewers, “How, the f**k, did this happen?”  His point is that it is not apathy that keeps people from voting but the disillusionment with party politics – both Republican and Democrat.

So at this point, you’r probably thinking Moore is going to slam Trump throughout the rest of the documentary.  Although he does take jabs at the president, the film takes off in unexpected directions.  One of his most effective and nightmarish exposes deals with Flint, Michigan.  Republican governor Rick Snyder decides to switch the water supply of Flint from the clean water of Lake Huron to the highly polluted Flint River.  Due to the high levels of lead in the river, children who drank the water became sick.  The governor tried to cover up the problem stating there was nothing wrong with the water supply from the river.  The sad part of the crisis is when President Obama flew into Flint like a superhero to save the day.  He gets up to the podium and then asks for a glass of water to the gasps of the crowd.  He touches his lips to the glass of water and declares the water was safe to drink!  The people of Flint (mostly African-Americans) were devastated that the president let them down.

The documentary goes into other directions too.  It covers a teachers’ strike in West Virginia where they were asking for a five percent pay increase.  Their current wages were at the poverty line.  Moore also covers the Parkland mass shooting and the high school students that go up against politicians that get millions of dollars from the gun lobby.  His point is that grassroots organizations have the best opportunity for change if the system is not working for the people.  Finally, Moore hurls a real zinger at the audience.  He compares Trump to Hitler.  Although it’s a bit far-fetched, the filmmaker has always been a rabble-rouser.  His point is that when people stay quiet (don’t vote and ignore important social issues), societies collapse and despotism becomes a reality.  Whether you’re a liberal or conservative, Michael Moore makes you think about the state of affairs.