"American Selfie: One Nation Shoots Itself" (2020 release; 91 min.) is a documentary about the state of the country. As the movie opens, people are taking selfies in Chicago. "I like pictures of myself", comments one guy. We then start on a 12 month journey around this country, starting in "September 2019" in what now feels like a different era: people lining up in New York to buy the newest iPhone. "Do I need it? I want it!" comments someone. As it happens, it it the very same day of a climate march in NYC. "October 2019" brings us to a Trump MAGA rally in Minneapolis, where things get very ugly very fast, coming on the heels of Trump's mysogynistic, racist and xenophobic comments about US Congresswoman Ihlan Omar (last I checked, an American citizen just like you and me). At this point we are 10 min. into the movie.
Couple of comments: this is the latest from longtime documentarian Alexandra Pelosi (yes, daughter of). In this film, she takes to the road and documents the state of the union over the course of 12 months. It ain't a pretty picture: when you mix Trump's unrelenting divisive and racist attacks and outright lies about anything and everything with a pandemic the likes we haven't seen in over a century, it proves to be a punch to the gut. Watch the scene in "November 2019" when the film maker interviews people at the Walmart in El Paso, TX which just months before was the scene of a deadly mass shooting by a crazed guy wanting to stop an "invasion" of migrants (Trump's words). Watch the scenes in "May 2020" where New York funeral homes are overrun by COVID-19 deaths. It just breaks your heart. This movie is not easy to watch, as it so accurately reflects/exposes the difficult times this nation is going through in 2020. The release of this film couldn't be timed any better, literally a day after the last presidential debate where Trump declares with a straight face that "I am the least racist person in this room". Yea, he really said that, along with dozens of other fabrications and outright lies.
"American Selfie: One Nation Shoots Itself" premiered on Showtime this weekend, and is now available on SHO On Demand and other streaming services. If you want to be reminded of what is at stake in the current (yes, current: tens of millions of ballots have been cast already) presidential election, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.
