Louis Theroux: Forbidden America

The people in this getting offended about having their quotes and reflected back to them makes for one of the best LT documentary for a while. I'd have more respect for them if they just admitted what they believe. Louis' indignation is clear.

In the end the online donations roll and and we discover, it was about the money after all.

Good to see their fans have been able to follow a link to leave back reviews here.

Episode 1: Nothing very new here. There are some racist right wing people in the US... The sky is also blue. The BBC wouldn't let him, but maybe he needs to balance it out and look at some far left violent nutjobs like Antifa.

Finding extreme individuals in America is not so hard and Louis Theroux has done a good job of this in the last. But no effort is made to understand the backstories of these dreadful people, whether they had formative experiences that led to their views. Many seemed to be conflicted - were they White Supremicists or just motivated by narcissistic desire to get a reaction from the mainstream media? They seemed less sure of their ideology than the neo-nazis Theroux has profiled before. Yet none of this was explored. So we are left none the wiser. Maybe all Louis wanted was to say they are dreadful and social media is feeding them, but I thought there was a better story and investigation to be had.

The white supremacy thing is pretty dull. Weak men with weaker minds. This story is pretty cringy and probably doesn't need any more noise around it.

Episode two focuses on how rappers deal with their content glamourising the issues that have caused them personal pain and is very real. This episode provides great insight into why this medium of story telling is so important.

Episode three is also good but has elements of baiting interviewees for the answers Louis wants. Nonetheless it contains some important messages and is worth a watch.

All in all Louis has made something which make you consider different perspectives and that's not nothing.

I've seen most of Louis's documentaries over the years but I get the feeling he is losing his touch a little. He still asks the right questions but makes it too personal so the interviewees often end up swearing at him or kicking him out. His moral tone and inquisition gets on peoples nerves. The outcasts of society are an easy target. Perhaps a different or fresh approach is the way forward. And not in the USA again please.