Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018)

Michael Moore is back, doing what he does best, deconstructing the machine in a way that starts out facetiously entertaining, moves through jokes into poignant moments of pathos, and ends up inspiring outrage, motivation, and deep down hope. Fahrenheit 11/9 may be typical Moore, but no one does this like he does.

There is a lot of hand-ringing going on in America (and the world) and a lot of polarization. Moore puts his finger right on the pulse of this, starting by showing us just how wrong we were back in 2016, believing that we could never end up where we ended up. He moves then into stories of optimism and hope. He brings us to the people who are surviving the tragedies of Flint and Parkland and other, bringing us face to face with the realities of all of it, but showing us the faces of those who are leading the way out.

And this is the strength of his work. He brings it to us in a way that is upfront and unflinching, yet still managing to bring us hope. His nice guy, nerdy humour, lack of subtlety, and his optimistic belief that change can come remains inspiring in the face of what is down right terrifying.

Moore is polarizing and many dismiss his work without considering it, without taking what he has to say into consideration. Perhaps this is a sign of his strength as a filmmaker and communicator. Those who are threatened by what he does can't argue directly with him so they have to just discredit him.

The critique I've heard the most about this film is an interesting one. Moore does a very clever take on an old idea, the "Hitler comparison." This is often seen as low and even meaningless as we have become so gas-lighted into thinking that nothing can be as bad as Hitler. Anyone who makes a contemporary analogy to Hitler is clearly overreacting. We are convinced that nothing so terrible can every happen again, that Nazis happened in a vacuum which can never be brought back. But he takes that head on here, showing why it is important to learn from those historical lessons. So much of that "critique" is based on minimizing modern suffering. He cleverly, in his very direct way, deconstructs this, forcing us to recon with the possibilities of what it is we are facing.

As a film Fahrenheit 11/9 works due to the formula Moore has perfected.  But more than that, Moore's folksy attack on all that got us into this mess, and his encouragement of those working to right the ship, makes this film something to experience.

Fahrenheit 11/9
Writer/Director: Michael Moore