2016: Obama's America

Obama supporters (e.g. the mainstream media) want you to believe that "2016: Obama's America" is a sensationalistic, white supremacist attack on President Barack Hussein Obama. It isn't. "2016" is a fact-based, artistically ambitious documentary, the product of an egghead intellectual, Dinesh D'Souza, who himself is a college president, and who is non-white, Indian-born, the grandson of an anti-white grandfather. D'Souza supports almost every point he makes with original material, including Obama's biography and on screen experts, including Shelby Steele, the eloquent, African American scholar, George Obama, the president's Kenyan half-brother, Kenyan villagers who knew Obama Sr. intimately, and US Comptroller General David Walker.

The film is shot in an artistically ambitious style, with lots of shaky camera work, off-center placement, explanatory animation, and depressing montages of garbage-strewn Kenyan, Indian, and Indonesian slums.

In fact, for many viewers this documentary will be entirely too cerebral and level-headed. This is not Michael Moore. It's not funny, it's not shocking, and it's less manipulative than lots of other election-year material. D'Souza never exploits his subjects with the ruthlessness of a Michael Moore. I didn't laugh, I didn't gasp, and I didn't become outraged. I mostly compared what was being said to publicly available information on the subjects discussed and I found the film – dare one say it – reasonably responsible and informative. In fact, the film's one mistake may be that it does not talk down to viewers enough. Anti- colonial theory and action will be new to many viewers. Many will simply not know who Frantz Fanon is, for example, or even Shelby Steele. These scholars could have been introduced to the viewer more slowly, carefully, and thoroughly.

Dinesh D'Souza was born in India, famous as the "Jewel in the Crown" of the British Empire. India was a hotbed of anti-colonial theorizing and activity. D'Souza inherited this from his grandfather. As such, he sees Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., through the lens of anti-colonialism. D'Souza supports this view of Obama with quotes from Obama's own work, interviews with people who know the Obama family, and scholars like Paul Kengor who has researched Obama's relationship with Frank Marshall Davis.

D'Souza argues, using Obama's own words from his memoirs, that Obama wants to fulfill his father's dream of anti-colonial political and economic action. Rich, white, Western people need to be shaken down in order to even the score with poor people of color living in formerly colonized countries like Kenya and Indonesia, and poor, exploited people of color living in Western countries.

Interestingly, the lack of economic soundness of this grudge-and-race- based politics is argued by George Obama, the president's half-brother. George makes a very interesting observation. Compare the "Asian tiger" countries to formerly colonized countries in Africa. South Korea used to be at the same economic level as Kenya. South Korea has been able to advance in a way that Kenya has not. Why is that, George asks? The unstated but implied answer: not just colonization is to blame for the poverty of some formerly colonized countries. Rather, cultural and economic differences also play a role. Rather than pursuing the kind of race-and-grudge based politics and economics that have destroyed Mugabe's Zimbabwe, exploited people could benefit from learning from countries like South Korea.

The documentary veers into speculation toward the end, stating that President Obama wants to see the US in the debt crisis it faces now. That's the film's most outrageous speculation. As the Comptroller General explains, the debt crisis is very real. That Obama desires the debt crisis is mere speculation. The film also criticizes Obama for reducing nuclear warheads and NASA. Again, that Obama has taken these steps is fact. His motivation for doing so, as presented in the film, is mere speculation.

After seeing how polarizing the reviews for this film were, I prepared myself for the possibility it would be akin to some radical, Michael Moore-like conspiracy theory. I was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't.

There is no doubt what side of the political spectrum Dinesh D'Souza is on, but i feel like he made sufficient effort to support his theories and conclusions with actual facts and further, he did it using President Obamas own words. His assessments are fair, though at times he seems to be reaching. D'Souza chooses snippets from Obama's book and his speeches and other documented clips selectively to support his claims, but nonetheless, the evidence is there. To be honest, it's really sort of frightening when you see it all laid out in front of you.

Bottom-line is go see the movie. Keep an open mind. And please, try not to pay much attention to some of these clearly biased, misinformed reviews and critics. If you're even slightly interested in politics, watch the film, and decide for yourself.

That I cannot recall a serious documentary film made about a president who was still in office at the time of the film's release, at least not a film with a wide theatrical release (can we count the propaganda laden Fahrenheit 9/11?), speaks volumes about this film's importance. That no president that I have ever studied in school has been shrouded in so much mystery and controversy speaks volumes about the legitimacy of a documentary investigating who he is and what he has come from. 2016: Obama's America explores the history and influences of our current president Barack Obama, from as much an objective standpoint as I think one could take without simply saying nothing. While lacking the flashiness and polish of a Michael Moore film, director Dinesh D'Souza wisely goes straight for the facts, tossing aside all the propaganda, assumptions, theories and pretty motion graphics of more famous documentarians. How can I say "fact"? How do I know? Because much of the film explores the writings and quotes and interviews from Obama himself. It's straight from the horse's mouth. Much of it is alarming, I don't know how it could be seen any other way by anyone who loves this country. Much of it also puts away petty arguments about things that don't really matter when it's all said and done. D'Souza affirms that Obama was born in Hawaii, which I'm sure will anger some people. But there are bigger issues at stake in this film, which is about our very real state of affairs here in the United States of America. While it does naturally take a partisan stance, it is as objective as documentaries get, and should be seen by all. And if box office numbers mean anything, it is being seen by quite a few (it posted Top Ten numbers for this past weekend, and only projects to grow to more and more theaters). The film's tag-line, "Love him or hate him, you don't know him" could very well be the complete review for this film.

-Thomas Bond, TheFilmDiscussion.com

Well-done, thought-provoking movie. This film provides insight into Obama's childhood, his influences, his beliefs, and how all of these translate into his plans for America, especially with regard to national security and foreign policy. There's something for everyone in here – Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives, and anyone else. Independents, in particular, will benefit from a deeper understanding of the man they helped to elect to office four years ago. Even better, this movie offers a very insightful analysis of why Obama's words have failed to match his actions. Hats off to Dinesh D'Souza and Gerald Molen for a powerful film!

I saw this movie tonight with my father, and was slightly skeptical. I half expected it to have an in your face approach like the conservative talk radio hosts always seem to have. I can say that as a 20 year old that considers myself to be somewhat more of a moderate than a conservative, I really appreciated what this movie brought to the table.

It was very informational about who Barack Obama is and where he came from; as well as where his parents came from and how their views were shaped and molded. From what I learned in this movie, President Obama's views are simply a consequence of his upbringing and he completely holds true to his father's ideals. Unfortunately, those ideals seem to have connected him with some "shady" people, including communists. I definitely learned some startling statistics and first hand accounts of his life from friends and family members that have shaped my opinion about this man.

I would say that this movie is quite obviously going to be popular with the conservatives, but it worthwhile to see even for a liberal voter. None of the facts or stories in this movie seemed to be fictional and were fairly presented.