2016 Obama's America - Movie Review

Directed by Dinesh D'Souza & John Sullivan.

★★½

It's still in some theaters but I saw it for free on YouTube.

This right-leaning documentary (I say with the same euphemistic flourish I'd use to describe Michael Moore as "left-leaning") proposes that most of America doesn't know the "real" Obama.  Filmmaker/author Dinesh D'Souza decides to go on a journey to discover who the real man is, and he uses Obama's book "Dreams of My Father" as a blueprint.

First we must learn who D'Souza is, so we can see where he's coming from. I'm not a fan of "re-created" scenes in documentaries, and this one has an actor playing D'Souza, having conversations while he was in college.  He talks about his time at Stanford, his debate with Jesse Jackson, his fondness for Ronald Reagan, and his job at the White House.

Then we get more into Obama, and D'Souza globetrots to immerse himself in the places Obama grew up.  He goes to Kenya and interviews Obama's half-brother.  He goes to Hawaii, he goes to the Philippines, back to the United States, and he has a slick trick of interviewing an expert, either in person or by phone, to re-enforce whatever theory's he's put forward.

The film is well-paced and good-looking.  Many political docs look slapped together and done as a cash-grab, but this one aspires to be a real movie.  It also makes effective use of Obama's own voice, narrating his own words.

This actually builds like Rosemary's Baby.  Everything seems pleasant at first, but we know we're building to something horrific, and dread seeps through and spreads slowly, like ink in a swimming pool.

The finale is when D'Souza brings in his final expert, to share what the world would look like if Rosemary gives birth to Satan's baby.  I mean, if Obama gets a second term.  (Spoiler alert!)  "What would happen if America is no longer America?" By 2016, the debt will shoot past $20 trillion, more Middle Eastern countries will fall until they form a giant Muslim Brotherhood alliance against the West, and America will forever be weakened in the world.

I didn't feel very informed, because the back of my mind kept wondering if I wanted to fact-check this.  I don't really feel a need to, as it didn't change my mind about anything.