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Wednesday, December 19, 2018

BLU-RAY REVIEW
 "Fahrenheit 11/9" Comes Sparingly To Your Home For Christmas As A Stark Statement
Richard Ojeda, who will run for U.S. president on the Democratic side in 2020, with Michael Moore in Mr. Moore's "Fahrenheit 11/9". State Run Films
       
by Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        Follow popcornreel on Twitter FOLLOW                                           
Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Just in time for Christmas, Michael Moore's under-seen and somewhat underrated "Fahrenheit 11/9" could be said to be a grinch or a downer, especially in hindsight after November 8, 2018.  But Mr. Moore's film, released in late September 2018 to a largely unreceptive American public (arguably saturated with Donald Trump fatigue), is nothing but a dire warning about the direction of the United States Of America under Donald, the Republican Party (aka The Trump Party), the U.S. corporate news media and the Establishment wing of the Democratic Party, the latter of which Mr. Moore takes sharp aim at without reservation.  There are no sacred cows here at all, including Mr. Moore's viewers.

"Fahrenheit 11/9" arrived on Blu-Ray (and DVD) in the U.S. and Canada yesterday without any accompanying extras, and that bare-bones treatment seems a deliberate choice of Mr. Moore and his Traverse City company State Run Films (named after the Michigan city movie theater he owns and holds his annual film festival in.)  There is no audio commentary or outtakes even though the film's trailer reveals at least seven scenes that were not in the theatrical release.  Hopefully those will be re-inserted as extras or an alternate version in the years to come.  (When you watch some of the remarkable media footage Mr. Moore shows, you may ask: "why didn't the U.S. news media ever show this?") 

Sobering, devastating and highly instructive, "Fahrenheit 11/9" is a powerful, passionate and honest political document that pushes your anger level through the roof, especially with the nationally under-reported Flint Water Atrocity that has afflicted tens of thousands of children and adults for life in the city of Flint, Michigan, the director's hometown. 

While Mr. Moore's film is far more grim, important and urgent than any of his prior work, it strikes a substantial reservoir of hope and encouragement about the future of America through the eyes of the younger generation it chronicles, specifically in the film's second half in such movements as the Never Again, March For Our Lives movement headquartered in Parkland, Florida, following the February mass-shooting deadly terrorism at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School.  There is a spotlight on the new Progressive Democratic movement, replete with self-starters and proactive women with courage, conviction and absolutely nothing to lose.

Unmistakably, Donald Trump is Mr. Moore's targeted subject, and the filmmaker's characterizing of him is less damning than Donald's very actions and self-indicting statements themselves.  As I watched again, this time on television in a very sharp, clear 1080p high-definition widescreen 1.78:1 presentation, "Fahrenheit 11/9" rang even truer, if less resonant (I had seen it in theaters nine times.) 

First-time viewers will be stunned at what they see, and they will be educated and inspired.  Despite the Democratic retaking of the House Of Representatives last month, this effective, cutting documentary will serve as a manual that should not be discarded or forgotten for the huge political fight in 2020.  "Flint ain't fixed," as actor, activist and musician Jenifer Lewis reminds us in the film -- and neither is America.

"Fahrenheit 11/9" is rated R by the Motion Picture Association Of America for language and some disturbing material/images.  It shouldn't be rated R at all.  The film's duration is two hours and eight minutes.
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