Farenheit 11/9

(Reviewed by John Glennie)

A very thought-provoking documentary movie by Michael Moore (Farenheit 911) and is really three mini-documentaries in one but all inter-related.

When the USA and the rest of the world were convinced that Hilary Clinton would be the next President and were already celebrating, Michael Moore warned everyone not to be complacent and predicted that Trump could surprise everyone and win – and we all know the reality of that!

Moore also has in-depth coverage of the on-going scandal surrounding the Governor of Michigan – a Trump supporter – who replaced all key positions with his own crones. He then decided to build a brand new water pipeline for Moore’s home-city of Flint. The old, fully-functional one, brought water from the Great Lakes – the biggest fresh-water supply in the world. However, with the new pipeline – installed by his own company – had to take the water from the Flint River. Very soon, the residents (predominantly black) developed lead poisoning which is extremely deadly and totally untreatable and irreversible. The coverage of this issue is quite in-depth and very disturbing.

Also receiving great coverage was the mass school shooting and subsequent nation-wide protests by American students. It was so refreshing to see these kids taking up the fight to the US Government and the powerful National Rifle Association. Even more refreshing was seeing some of the students even registering as political candidates and getting accepted. There are also many other “everyday” people taking up the fight against US politics and campaigning for office in upcoming elections – including a Hispanic woman from The Bronx, a Muslim woman and a retired army veteran tired of the dishonesty and corruption in politics. It could turn out to be an interested time for American politics.

A very sobering – and disturbing – reality check was provided with very compelling comparisons between Trump’s election and subsequent modus-operandi to that of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party. Both received fewer votes than their opposing candidates but both ended up taking power. Trump is already (jokingly??) talking up Constitutional changes which would allow him to continue in power indefinitely! Very scary, and let’s hope the American voters get wise before it is too late.

My only criticism of the movie was that it jumped around a bit too much and it was very long (nearly 130 minutes).