About myself, I'm a 37 year old man from Germany. I'm following the US-Election since the primaries, because the President of America has a big impact on all our lives IMO. My personal views could be called moderate/left-wing republican if I had to compare them to our system (that would be the conservative party in our land). Although I agree with many views of Michael Moore and watched all his documentaries, I dislike his one-sideness, lack of context and over-dramatization.
I decided to write my first review here because I could add some neutral opinion I think. After reading the other reviews, I noticed that they are mostly influenced by the voting views of the writers and not really about this documentary itself. Of course a Clinton follower will vote it high and a Trump follower will vote it down.
Now about the film. Yes this is an ad to generate Cliniton voters, I won't deny that, but it is so much more if you look closer. Normally Michael Moore used to just bring up facts and stories in his documentaries and let you draw your own conclusions. And what I didn't like in these previous pieces, was that he'd always shown only one side of the story and dramatized it. But in this case he shared more of his own views and conclusions and did that in a way that you really connected to it.
I like that Moore didn't attack Trump directly once. I can't stand this personalized attacking and all the lying in this campaign anymore, from BOTH sides. So it is very refreshing to see someone, who try's to win over people with logic and facts instead of badmouthing the other side. Many reviewers wrote that he's one-sided and let Clinton shine in to good a light. But he is not a reporter or a political analyst or whatever. He's a filmmaker who shares his views with an audience! And IMO he doesn't glorifies Clinton, he just reveals some facts and truth about her that are liked to be forgotten.
But if this had been only about Clinton or Trump or the campaign, I would probably had given it a 6-7 and begone. What really got me, was when he spoke about Americas current state of mind and the past. I was totally moved when he read his notes on the desk. It was so much truth about the anger, the frustration and the feeling... no the wanting to send a *fu.. you* up to the establishment. I'm not an American and I just get the news from CNN here, but in Europe we have many similar problems. Politicians that only work for them self to stay in Office, raising gaps between poor and rich and so on. Maybe it's not as bad as in the US, I'm in no position to compare that, but I can relate to the general mood. Like with Donald Trump, we have many extreme party's and politicians on the rise all over Europe. And they also try to use our fear and anger to overthrow the establishment. After hearing Moores words in this moment all I could think about was, that the same is happening to us and we should do something about it.
And there were so much more, about the change in power regarding the genders, about decency and compassion in society, about learning from the past and accept changes. I advise everyone to watch this film twice. And the second time try to blend out all the usual rhetoric and jokes and concentrate on the parts when he gets serious. There is so much truth and emotion in these moments, just try to forget that this is a campaign-ad and try to get the story behind it.
Also the moment about the Healthcare issue totally shocked me. Don't get me wrong, I knew about the private payment and insurance in the States, but I never believed it to be so extreme. I had to watch "Sicko" right after this to get an incling of what he's talking about, and after this I googled the story about Hillary and the universal health care. After that I was shocked even more. As someone who lives in a country, where the best medical care is free and always available for everyone, I can't fathom to live in a world like this. But I don't want to discuss this matter here, just say that this moment got me even more after I learned all that.
I have to give this a 10 just for the moments when he really got me, and there where several. They overshadowed all the campaigning, if you really listen to it with an open mind.
I decided to write my first review here because I could add some neutral opinion I think. After reading the other reviews, I noticed that they are mostly influenced by the voting views of the writers and not really about this documentary itself. Of course a Clinton follower will vote it high and a Trump follower will vote it down.
Now about the film. Yes this is an ad to generate Cliniton voters, I won't deny that, but it is so much more if you look closer. Normally Michael Moore used to just bring up facts and stories in his documentaries and let you draw your own conclusions. And what I didn't like in these previous pieces, was that he'd always shown only one side of the story and dramatized it. But in this case he shared more of his own views and conclusions and did that in a way that you really connected to it.
I like that Moore didn't attack Trump directly once. I can't stand this personalized attacking and all the lying in this campaign anymore, from BOTH sides. So it is very refreshing to see someone, who try's to win over people with logic and facts instead of badmouthing the other side. Many reviewers wrote that he's one-sided and let Clinton shine in to good a light. But he is not a reporter or a political analyst or whatever. He's a filmmaker who shares his views with an audience! And IMO he doesn't glorifies Clinton, he just reveals some facts and truth about her that are liked to be forgotten.
But if this had been only about Clinton or Trump or the campaign, I would probably had given it a 6-7 and begone. What really got me, was when he spoke about Americas current state of mind and the past. I was totally moved when he read his notes on the desk. It was so much truth about the anger, the frustration and the feeling... no the wanting to send a *fu.. you* up to the establishment. I'm not an American and I just get the news from CNN here, but in Europe we have many similar problems. Politicians that only work for them self to stay in Office, raising gaps between poor and rich and so on. Maybe it's not as bad as in the US, I'm in no position to compare that, but I can relate to the general mood. Like with Donald Trump, we have many extreme party's and politicians on the rise all over Europe. And they also try to use our fear and anger to overthrow the establishment. After hearing Moores words in this moment all I could think about was, that the same is happening to us and we should do something about it.
And there were so much more, about the change in power regarding the genders, about decency and compassion in society, about learning from the past and accept changes. I advise everyone to watch this film twice. And the second time try to blend out all the usual rhetoric and jokes and concentrate on the parts when he gets serious. There is so much truth and emotion in these moments, just try to forget that this is a campaign-ad and try to get the story behind it.
Also the moment about the Healthcare issue totally shocked me. Don't get me wrong, I knew about the private payment and insurance in the States, but I never believed it to be so extreme. I had to watch "Sicko" right after this to get an incling of what he's talking about, and after this I googled the story about Hillary and the universal health care. After that I was shocked even more. As someone who lives in a country, where the best medical care is free and always available for everyone, I can't fathom to live in a world like this. But I don't want to discuss this matter here, just say that this moment got me even more after I learned all that.
I have to give this a 10 just for the moments when he really got me, and there where several. They overshadowed all the campaigning, if you really listen to it with an open mind.