John Meacham is an amazing and brilliant person - a product of the South who sees an America that has repeatedly failed to fulfill its promises of "liberty and justice for all." And an America that has almost constantly struggled between its "better angels" and worst impulses. Showing us that today's divisions are not new, the film is both reassuring and depressing. Meacham highlights a few of the United States failures (the struggle for women's suffrage, the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, McCarthyism, and the fight to pass Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s) and shows how we sometimes listened to our better angels to address them. All of these events were familiar to me but Meacham brought new insight into them as we follow him while he lectures, teaches and addresses the film audience directly.
My wife and I were blown away with the impact of this film in such a time as this (writing this one month past Jan. 6th 2021). It is a shame it is only available to those with an HBO subscription of some type. I hope it will soon be released on DVD or a less costly streaming services.
My wife and I were blown away with the impact of this film in such a time as this (writing this one month past Jan. 6th 2021). It is a shame it is only available to those with an HBO subscription of some type. I hope it will soon be released on DVD or a less costly streaming services.