America: Imagine the World Without Her

If you don't cry while watching "America: Imagine the World Without Her," I don't want to know you. "America: Imagine the World Without Her" is a slickly produced and entertaining documentary that attempts to fill a need in the US for a counter to hegemonic anti-American voices on the left in academia and media. It's a sober, responsible, and fact-based documentary, not at all sensationalistic or exaggerated. If anything, it is more low-key than it should be. It could have used more fireworks.

"America" features dramatic reenactments of historic personages and events. In this respect it is more like a feature film and less like a documentary. Much of the time you are not watching talking heads; you are watching fully costumed actors and fully realized sets. In the opening scenes, General George Washington is killed by the British. No, that never happened; that's the whole point. Imagine if the colonists lost the Revolutionary War. Other reenactments include the landing of Columbus' ships, life on a Southern plantation, Lincoln's assassination, Madame CJ Walker giving a speech, and Hillary Clinton working in a soup kitchen.

D'Souza opens with interviews with prominent anti-American spokespeople, including Charmaine Whiteface who wishes America did not exist, Prof. Michael Eric Dyson, a race baiter, and Prof. Ward Churchill, who advanced his own career and enjoyed many privileges and perquisites by falsely claiming Native American ancestry. Churchill is especially grotesque, arguing that he would like to nuke America.

D'Souza includes clips of Howard Zinn, Bill Ayers and Elizabeth Warren, yet another professor who advanced her own career by falsely claiming Native American ancestry. The anti-American voices outline the indictment: American stole land from Native Americans, enslaved Africans, colonized the world, and destroys its own people with capitalism.

D'Souza then responds to these charges. He points out that conquest was not unique to the conquistadors, that disease, not genocide, killed most Native Americans, and that similar population crashes occurred in Europe when the plague entered Europe from Asia. Slavery was not unique to the US. The US is unique in fighting a war to end slavery. Capitalism uplifts more people than any other system, while communism causes famines and shortages.

D'Souza veers from his own main thrust when he devotes a lot of time to identifying Hillary Clinton as a disciple of Saul Alinsky. Alinsky didn't start anti-Americanism. His book "Rules for Radicals" is an excellent primer in non-violent change. Demonizing Saul Alinsky is a dead-end.

I wish "America" were on the curricula of every student in America. It's a stirring corrective to the anti-American venom students are typically force-fed.

What a refreshing look at the United States of America and her history. Too many things to cover to go deep into each subject he covered but he said enough to make you think and research for more info. ....A very rare look at 'the other side' of what the media feeds us and the Common Core History lessons show you.

Should make most American citizens proud. We have many faults but overall America is the best idea for a country ....EVER.

We have done bad things but have tried to make up for them. We are not the bully Obama says we are BUT he and his groupies sure are. America is in trouble and going down but we can stop it if we want to

I saw this documentary film two days ago thinking it would be a nice start to the July 4th weekend. I was very pleased with the way Dinesh organized the film and structured it in a way that was entertaining and informative. Even though I consider myself to be fairly well-read on US History, I learned some things from this film.

It was nice to see that at least some people in this country are not afraid to speak their minds about history and take controversial issues head-on. This direct approach is something you rarely see in true propaganda films, which happen to be mostly revisionist and slightly biased. Dinesh handles some weighty issues with class and an obviously insightful, organized approach.

The film was very well done and kept a nice flow throughout. There was nice mix of documentary interviews/narrative with more movie-like animation and computer-generated visuals. There was some humor and some drama interspersed.

This is something every American should watch.

Interviews are thought-provoking. Unrevealed insights into American history gives significant context to our present day. Had no idea that there were so many black slave owners in the 1800's. Also, had no idea the first female millionaire in America was a black woman. I like how both sides of the coin are interviewed, not just one side to fit a political agenda. However, I thought covering the NSA was a bit out of place and didn't fit in well. I also thought more time could have been spent on our present administration. Regardless of your political affiliation, put your political ideology aside for a day and take a deeper look in to what you believe and how you believed it.

Miguel

Dinesh D'Souza is a man who obviously loves and admires this country and it shows in his work here. He presents a series of criticisms or "indictments" against this country - particularly concerning our past history. Then he counters this with arguments about the many good things about our country, and how important we are to the rest of the world. This is done through a series of interviews, news clips and some historical re-enactments. I found it fascinating to watch and learned some history that I was not aware of. My only criticism is that it was a bit long, particularly towards the end. But I think it's an important film that everyone should see, and that it would make them appreciate our wonderful country even more.