Michael Moore in TrumpLand

This is not like producer-director Michael Moore's other, award-winning documentaries. While the opening is cinematic, the bulk of this material could best be described as Mr. Moore performing "stand-up comedy" for a movie theater audience. He sits down, too, on a sparse stage set. His language is frequently vulgar. There are a few interludes that include video, tape and photographs of 2016's US Presidential candidates Donald J. Trump and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Moore appears to have done this film quickly, with his "TrumpLand" being Wilmington, Ohio. His initial aim is obvious; of course, Moore is working to defeat Mr. Trump. Anyone who thinks "Michael Moore in TrumpLand" is going to support Trump doesn't know Moore. He is not going to give you a "fair and balanced" view of Clinton and Trump. Moore is an admittedly liberal (or progressive) filmmaker and presents himself honestly...

What may be surprising is Moore's persuasive argument for Ms. Clinton. This is a film about her, not him. Moore's conversion includes his sometimes mixed feelings about Clinton and her long biography. Interestingly, he enlarges old photographs of Hillary Rodham as set backdrops. After all the demonic contemporary photos and older "hippie" pictures on social media, it startling to see Hillary was quite a beautiful young woman...

The main point of "Michael Moore in TrumpLand" is to garner votes for Hillary Clinton and against Donald Trump. No surprise, there. Moore treats his audience with calculated respect. As aforementioned, he is honest about his personal views and how they developed. He hopes Clinton will be more liberal in office than most assume, as was the case with the present Pope Francis. However she governs, Moore prefers Clinton to Trump...

Moore directly appeals to older white males who have suffered economically and must now live in a county where they are a dwindling minority. The voters who believe President Obama is a Muslim born in Africa, and Hillary Clinton is the Anti-Christ, are not going to be convinced. Moore amusingly siphons those voters off and goes for the voter he believes might vote for Clinton, after a persuasive argument. He separates the bigots with visual allegories by "building a wall" around Mexicans (Guatemalans count, too!) in the audience and separating Muslins into a section guarded by a symbolic drone. Moore appears to have researched his target voter very well and the film shows heads nodding in agreement. Those nods mean the staged and directed voters on screen were convinced. We will have to see if real voters agree on November 8, when the new President wins election. Everyone should get out and vote.

******* Michael Moore in TrumpLand (10/18/2016) Michael Moore ~ Michael Moore, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump

It is hard to believe that once upon a time, the Presidency belonged to the Republicans. Apart from the isolated one term victory by Jimmy Carter, the Democrats were regarded as a basket case when selecting Presidential candidates and had to make do with victories for the Congress. Bill Clinton broke this mould and showed that a centrist Democratic party could dominate Presidential elections, heck even Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000 but narrowly lost the electoral college.

Michael Moore in TrumpLand is less of a movie and more of a monologue with some jokes. Polemicist Michael Moore takes centre stage in the Ohio town of Wilmington, in Clinton County where polls indicate huge support for Donald Trump.

This was filmed just recently and released a few weeks before election day. Moore understands why people might vote for Trump. Those who have lost jobs to foreign competition, maybe lost their homes and even their marriage broken up as a result.

Of course once you cast your vote for Trump out of anger it could be too late just in the Brexit vote in the UK in 2016.

The film is not really a hatchet job on Trump. I think it should had been. This multimillionaire son of a multimillionaire property developer which his swanky apartment buildings, luxury yachts, model turned wives and all types if glittering jewels suddenly tells the ordinary working Americans he understands their pain when all along he complains of having to pay minimum wage to his staff, buys foreign steel for his buildings, stiffs his suppliers and uses creative accountancy to avoid paying taxes for years.

Instead it is a defence for Hillary Clinton, a woman pilloried for 25 years ever since her husband Bill ran for the White House as a centrist, moderate Democrat.

Moore admits he has never voted for the Clintons but he admires Hillary for her knowledge, tenacity and courage to put up with all the flak thrown at her. Moore hopes that once elected Hillary might turn out to be more radical.

I guess Trump supporters will hate this film as so will those who have never liked Moore. At least he takes a refreshing take on Hillary, a woman who has to subdue her radical edge just to be accepted by the establishment and the media.

I pretty much agree with everything said about Moore's great ability to communicate his ideas so as to persuade his audience. While he is doing it he goes over the top to sound like the people he is trying to persuade, then over the top to show the possible consequences of their beliefs or practices. This movie is similar in that way. Moore brilliantly makes his points while filming a live "lecture" with a few films and audio clips thrown in to drive things home a bit. Even the staging of talking from a podium, then from a work desk, then moving to an easy chair, like he is talking to you from his living room, shows you the steps he is moving through in his message. Very well thought out and executed. He also uses humor extremely well, getting both political sides laughing. My husband and I laughed many times during the film. We think his points are very valid and that the manipulation he used was only necessary to get people to listen to those points and concerns.

One other thing strikes me about this film - the timing of it's release (18 days before the election) and extreme financial risk of making it in a lecture format. Very different. I wonder if folks will give this film any attention after this election? He gives scenarios for how the world will change if Donald or Hillary is elected. The scenario about Trump taking office is laid out in great detail.

Honorable mentions: I really liked the way Moore describes how differently men and women are viewed, especially in politics. I was also happy that there was little mention of sex scandals (just a passing reference to the Clinton/Lewinski scandal) and no mention of emails. So sick of both of those.

I recommend this film to everyone, especially BEFORE voting on Nov. 8, and even after the election to see if Moore was right.

Michael Moore is one of those documentarians that I've been aware of for a long time, yet never took the time to watch anything he's done. Until now, that is. The premise is pretty simple: Michael Moore went into a solidly Republican/conservative part of Ohio (ironically, in Clinton County) and made a pitch for Hillary Clinton. You will not find any Trump-bashing here (at least no vitriol), and what little of him does feature served a purpose. Things started off kind of shaky with Moore doing an occasionally awkward stand-up routine, but once he got the audience's attention/respect and delved into his case for a Hillary Clinton presidency, things smoothed out quite well, and even got quite emotional at times. The only parts that had me rolling my eyes were some of the early jokes and a concluding stunt (I'm guessing/hoping that it was) where he promises to run in 2020 if Hillary doesn't live up to the promise he sees in her. It had the feeling of those hackneyed high school debate speeches where the candidate promises junk food for lunch (or something similarly ridiculous). Even still, he made his point very well (and positively). The technical details of the film weren't necessarily the best, though, probably due to the film's quick production. There are many noticeable points where the audio changes in quality, and some of the editing seemed just a little off. Other than that, I thought that MICHAEL MOORE IN TRUMPLAND was an effective film that made its case without resorting to negativity, and with a minimum of theatrics.

In the mids of the race to the bottom in the unfolding of this election campaign this statement sure is a breath of fresh air. You may not, and do not have to agree with Michael Moore's viewpoints to see that he does manage to get some historical and future perpectives, a sense of common ground and good humor in the room. Polarisation is such a horrendous side-effect of (bad) election campaigns and defusing it in the heat of the moment is very, very tricky. With commentary from the mainstream media at kindergarten level we need Michaels kind of clowning to ridicule the court and help tie odds and options together. Clever and entertaining. But by all means, don't take his word for it...make up your own mind!