From what I’ve read, while Trump is a central character in the film, the larger point is really about how we, as a nation, allowed this style of politician to come to power. Trump is the symptom rather than the disease.
I certainly plan to see the movie first chance I get.
Ultimately, though, Moore refuses to give Trump too much screen time. “Yes, I will show you some stuff about Trump that you haven’t seen,” Moore told Hollywood Reporter, “but if you’re coming to see the pee tape, you’re going to the wrong movie."
If you were looking for an easy out of the Trump era, like impeachment, this isn’t the movie for you either. But, if you are looking for a movie that reveals the complex web of political manipulation, abuses of power and institutional failures that made Trump possible, then this film is must-see.
The existence of Moore is somewhat depressing to me. The amount of fantastic reporting that has been done of the last few years on Trump, white supremacy, Flint, immigration, etc… is staggering (and depressing in the amount of material that exists to discover and write about), yet the message has the farthest reach when put into the hands of a ‘stunt/gotcha journalist.’ I don’t like it, but I guess I’m glad it’s getting out there.
Now as for the new Errol Morris film, I couldn’t be more excited.
I’m planning to read Bob Woodward’s book this week but if Moore gets the message out to people who aren’t following traditional journalism then more power to him.
I intend on seeing it in the theater, but I also hope they plan to release it digitally soon after the theatrical release as well – or even concurrently with the theatrical release.
I’m enjoying it.
Although, I read the Wolff (trash really) and a Michael Isikoff, David Corn (Russian Roulette, good) one, and a John Meacham (also good) so I’ll say that the Woodward starts off in fairly familiar territory.
IIRC, he pretty much outright lied in Sicko - he went to a hospital in Cuba called Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital, where he bought(for a pretty reasonable rate, at least) some medical treatment for people with him, and very much portrayed it as the type of care your typical cuban has access to, something he also claimed later in interviews.
That’s a barefaced lie - Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital is too expensive for the majority of cubans, even if it’s cheap for Americans, but that’s a moot point, because they simply do not treat and will almost always refuse to treat regular citizens. It’s a hospital for the Cuban political and societal elite, and Rich (usually American) tourists.
Your average Cuban has a snowball’s chance in hell of getting treatment there, and a lot of if not most Cubans struggle to get anything remotely resembling a decent level of medical care, especially outside of major cities.
Now, this isn’t to say that I think Socialized medicine is bad - Fuck’s sake, I’m Australian, we’re one of the most common examples for how Socialized healthcare can work, and work well - just that Moore was telling an outright lie in that segment, since you couldn’t think of an example.
I’m about halfway thru it and most of the juicy bits have already been revealed in the pre-release press coverage. It basically picks up where “Fire and Fury” left off. I can’t say I’m really shocked at any of the revelations - it essentially corroborates everything we’ve already heard coming out of the current dumpster fire White House.
The strongest point so far is just how incompetent and impulsive Trump really is - aka: this is not an act. He doesn’t understand even the most basics of government or economics and doesn’t care to learn. And he’s happy to surround himself with sycophants as long as they show sufficient loyalty.
I have a strong suspicion that one of Woodward’s sources is Bannon himself - much of the early chapters are written in his voice.
