America's Heart & Soul (2004) User Reviews

Not what I expected, but not all bad either

[mikemckiernan · 6/10 · 2 June 2020]

There's a lot to say about this movie, but here's the gist: It's not about America's national parks, animals, or history. It's about, literally, its heart and soul - the people. But here's the deal: the movie is only 84 minutes, which is a very short amount of time to cram the "heart and soul" of America. The brainstorming session to curate the list of what type of people to feature in this film must've been a mile long, and that's actually my issue with it. They made some odd choices with some people, like the junk art guy or the "projectile stunt man" or the 2-minute clip of Ben from Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream (the only famous person in the whole movie). I think I was expecting more iconic/historical people or people who work with historical monuments, I don't know... I guess I was expecting an updated version of "America the Beautiful," the old circle vision movie inside Disneyland (and Disney World?).

Overall, I was disappointed, but it's not nearly as bad or "patriotic propaganda" as some cynical reviewers here wrote (apparently, they were just pissed about the movie being released during the GW Bush administration and took it as propaganda - well guess what? I just watched this during the TRUMP administration and there's, literally, riots going on right now as I write this due to the senseless death of George Floyd. I needed to watch something patriotic for my country that I love and have loved for almost 50 years.)

Apache Time

[southdavid · 5/10 · 11 March 2021]

In my childhood, I was lucky enough to make it across the Atlantic to the Disney Theme Parks a few times. Occasionally I ended up in exhibitions showing movies about America or the American Dream. They were alright because, I was on holiday in a foreign country, and happy to be there, they had air conditioning and they lasted about ten minutes. Watching this, at home on Disney Plus, for 84 minutes I was less enthralled.

The documentary has us meet a number of Americans, most of whom participate in some form of "wacky" way to amuse themselves. Some of these range from genuinely worthy, such as the Erik Welhenmayer, a blind man who ice climbs or the Hoyt family, who run marathons together. Some, such as Olympic Boxer Michael Bennett or Oil Well Fire Fighters in Texas chose difficult lives for themselves. Some of them like the Bandaloop Cliff Dancers or the Art Car festivals just have more money than sense and two of them, Frank and David Pino just play in one of the worst craprock bands you'll ever see.

The issue is, to call it a documentary is a bit of a stretch. It's a mile wide but a centremetre deep, there's no focus to it, or even really a theme other than these people are all American. It might have been interesting had we gone from coast to coast in order and seen how the landscape of America itself changes, but instead it's a scattershot approach, leaping from here to there and seeing people in a seeming random order.

I didn't hate it but it's hard to think of a reason to recommend spending time on it.

A glowing film about the best of American life.

[marc-262 · 26 May 2004]

America's Heart and Soul is one of the first documentaries to emerge from Disney in many years. It is easy to see why they selected this project for distribution -- it is upbeat, beautifully shot, and filled with enough stock quirky American characters to provide a counterpoint to the otherwise dramatic material. The film shares some features with the 360-degree surround films that have been a staple in the Disney theme parks -- the scenes are short vignettes featuring the lives of ordinary (and not so ordinary) Americans interspersed with soaring aerial shots of America's golden landscape.

Especially noteworthy are the stories of Michael Bennett, a convict turned Olympian; Erik Weihenmayer, a blind mountain climber; and Rick and Dick Hoyt, a father/son marathon team (Rick is paraplegic). Humor is provided by Paul Stone, and "artist" whose medium is explosives, and the folks at the Art Car Festival. But for sheer beauty it is hard to beat the segment on the Bandaloop Cliff Dancers.

Part biography, part travelogue, this film is not a documentary about American life as it is -- the gritty side of our nation is conspicuously absent. Instead it is a glowing portrait of what we deem best -- freedom (including the freedom to be incredibly silly), family, cultural diversity, caring, and determination. It's not a reality-check, it is a glorious vision. And, despite what some snootier critics might think, that's not always a bad thing. America's Heart and Soul is a great family film for anyone looking to see what's good and beautiful about America.

Blind patriotism is just as dangerous as No patriotism.

[shulmanator · 3/10 · 6 July 2004]

Obviously this film was made to counter the negative criticism of Michael Moore's films and any sort of criticism of America. Ideally, a documentary about America should be balanced. It should talk about the positive aspects as well as the negative aspects, but these days, everyone is polarized either to the positive or the negative, depending on which political team you're rooting for this election year. Go team go!

Personally, I find this film to be nothing more than a recruiting film for cheap foreign labor to enter the USA, legally or not, as well as a reminder that you shouldn't question America's actions, no matter what it does. What about the other free countries out there? Canada allows gay marriage, The UK has lower driving ages, lower alcohol consumption ages, and lower legal sex ages. The Netherlands permit limited marijuana use. Those countries have more freedom than the United States. Just because America pioneered democracy doesn't mean it's the best at embracing it. Just because America has the most money, doesn't mean it's the most loveable country. When taking this into account, all the flag waving means nothing more than rooting for your home team.

As an American, having no patriotism means stating that America and all its inhabitants are a negative aspect in this world, and leaving it vulneraable to enemy attack. Michael Moore and other American liberals, although critical, don't go this far, but the blindly patriotic assume so because they can't stand any criticism of their home team.

Being blindly patriotic means to love America no matter what it does. If America did something evil, the most patriotic citizens would cling to it as the right thing to do. This is dangerous. The Nazis were patriotic to their country in the 1930s. Plus, the inability to criticize means never improving, even if other nations surpass you over time, which is precisely what happened to America. Now other countries are advancing faster than us because the cowboys are still riding the same dead horses.

People should be equally critical as they are patriotic, and as patriotic as they are critical. Without balance, there is fanaticism. This film encourages fanaticism.

3/10

Funny

[TerminalMadness · 1/10 · 21 May 2005]

If you think this is how America truly is, then you're so naive. Where do the issues about poverty, the economy, deficit, high taxes, inflation, and racial injustice come in? Surprise, surprise it's never featured here nor is it EVER talked about!

We see some amazing direction followed by actors acting like real Joe schmoes reading from a script who display their pleasure with this grand country as if we don't have problems, because this propaganda would rather have us ignore the problems because it's much better to just watch this comedy and forget our misery.

Smart people will really dislike this and will see right through its act, as I did. Is it UnAmerican to see right through this propaganda? It's Unamerican to pretend we have no problems.

The fools who call this movie "JINGOISTIC"

[GuyFleegman · 10/10 · 3 July 2004]

The dictionary defines "jingoistic" as:

"Extreme nationalism characterized especially by a belligerent foreign policy; chauvinistic patriotism"

There isn't one nationalist statement made in this entire movie. No one talks about "this great country of ours", or "aren't we blessed to live in the best gosh-darned place on the planet". It is simply snatches of moments showing the lives of various people around the country; some corn-ball, some silly, some serious. Yes, there are some "whitebread" people presented (as one reviewer described them), backwoods types who play the banjo, sing old songs, raise their families and don't hurt anyone. Oh yes, they must me mocked by oh so hip reviewers, how dare they be so simple and unaffected and so... so... "whitebread". There are working class people who work long hours at tough jobs (steel workers) who see their way of life fading away as their jobs are eliminated (along with health care benefits, noted by the father of a little girl with a recurring brain tumor). Yes, let's sneer at them, say the cynical reviewers, for they are only capitalist stooges and deserve what they get. Speaking of evil capitalists, Ben Cohen of "Ben & Jerry's" is profiled, who had the audacity to start a small business, see it become a national success, and gave back to the community and is an active founding member of Businesses for Social Responsibility, an organization that works to promote socially responsible business practices. Let's condemn him for daring to succeed, doesn't he know that America is a hopeless land of brainwashed drones who must mindlessly conform to the ever-present Big Brother? It must be, because the reviewers insist it is. A reviewer says that Black people are "almost absent" in this film. I guess he just doesn't like the Black people who are shown. We see an elderly Black female gospel singer who delights in sharing her love of God (oh oh!) in joyous song. We see an activist Black minister who devotes his life to making positive change in the community. We see a Black boxer who made mistakes early in his life, but now has turned his life around and is also helping those around them. We see Black street musicians in Louisiana, young and old, playing together on street corners, enjoying the freedom to just "hang out" and make music for themselves and others. Yes, all these Black people are shown, the simple deluded fools. How dare they live productive and happy lives! Don't they know America is a pit of hopeless despair and racism? It must be, because the reviewers stomp their feet and insist it is!

We see the successes, but we also see the failures; homeless people pushing shopping carts aimlessly down the street, the down and out in soup kitchens, the people wondering where the American dream failed them. In other words, we see America as it is, unsugarcoated, unsanitized, warts and all. And this is precisely what drives certain people crazy. The film is HONEST, and honesty flies in the face of agenda-driven politics and manipulative propaganda. If this was a "ra ra go America" film, you wouldn't see the failures. If Michael Moore had made this film, you wouldn't see the successes and day to day joys of the common people.

This film shows America not as a shining citadel on the mountain for all to marvel and envy, nor as a cesspool of corporate greed, political corruption and hopeless and despairing masses. It simply shows a place where one can strive, and by striving one can succeed OR fail, and if you fail you can pick yourself up and try again. Do some people have advantages others don't? Sure. Do some people seemingly have the decked stacked against them? You bet! Welcome to the human condition, this is nothing new in history nor unique to America. Nothing is guaranteed, and everything is possible. The script of your life isn't written until you yourself write it.

So I implore you to ignore the hand-wringers, the finger-waggers, they with the earnestly furrowed brows who insist the glass is perpetually half-empty.

go see this charming little film. Oh, and also go see FAHRENHEIT 9/11 too, because that's what makes this a pretty neat place to live: all opinions and points of view are permitted and eventually everybody's ox gets gored.

I'm stunned at the cynics

[vkayro · 7/10 · 1 July 2005]

I just watched this documentary on HBO and was so touched by it, I came to IMDb and was shocked at the lambasting it was taking from some. I, myself, am a die-hard liberal who has no love for our current President. I knew nothing about this film before watching it, so I certainly was not viewing it with politics in mind. I found it quite uplifting and if anything, it made me all the more determined to stand up to the powers in office to protect the wonderful possibilities that this country offers. Yes, I did see some lack of diversity in that I noticed few of the stories focused on women (3) and there were no gays represented at all, but I did see flashes of our best and our worst. It saddens me that some people can't just sit back and enjoy seeing what's beautiful in the world without feeling like they are being brainwashed. After all, aren't the good things in this world exactly what we are fighting for?

A Stunning Celebration of America

[tigger_68 · 9/10 · 12 June 2005]

This is a visually stunning and emotionally moving tribute to the everyday people that make America great. Unlike those films that live to tell us how horrible things are, this one shows the faith, love and determination that make this nation.

While some chose to focus on celebrity, this shows everyday people. From a farmer and his son in Vermont to a father and his disabled son who run the Boston Marathon, it is a heartwarming view of good and decent people.

The cinematography is breathtaking and the director made the wonderful choice to not have a narrator, referring to allow the people to tell their own stories.

I've noticed many find this to be bad because they see it as somehow patriotic (I guess for some people that is a bad thing). Many also blast it for being a pro-Bush or post 9/11 rally film.

Perhaps they failed to listen to the audio commentary by the filmmaker who points out that most of this was filmed BEFORE 9/11. Indeed he has been working on it for 20 years, so a good portion of it was made during the CLINTON years. Perhaps it's OK if it supports him ?

Nor do they take into account the fact that, from what I've been able to find out on the net, the filmmaker is actually a Democrat who did not support Bush in 2004.

I won't go into the debate over diversity in the film since many have already pointed out that the film is quite diverse.

I think this film taps into the real divide in America today. Most people in the United States love this country, regardless of whether they are liberal or conservative. They may dislike policies or leaders, but they love the country.

A small group simply hates America. To they all is bad, nothing is good, and any optimism or positive thought is wrong.

That angry elite may find this beneath their standards, but for most of us it is a wonderful 90 minutes.

Bravo - We loved, America's Heart and Soul!

[rockymtnhi-2 · 9/10 · 4 January 2006]

We are so tired of all the biting rhetoric about "what is wrong about America" - Inane comments like, "No Wonder Terrorists Hate us!". We are tired of movies that stopped trying to say "anything good" about America anymore... Louis Swartzberg seemed to have captured some of our resilient SPIRIT, perhaps chapter ONE in more good things to come from him. There is so much diversity, talent and brave souls who challenge everyday life when sometimes it's more than enough to just "get up out of bed" let alone, conquer Mount Everest when you are "blind". The music, ( we turned on our Surround Sound) the Cinematography that was out of this World, offered us one of the best nights on TV - and it was further unspoiled by Commercials!! Bravo Disney - thank you, thank you!

This should be rated higher...

[danzaroni · 10/10 · 1 June 2006]

IMDb voters gave this a movie a 4.3 out of 10. Looking at the breakdown, you'll see that a majority of voters gave it a "1" - my guess is that very few of these voters actually saw the movie. The second largest group gave it a 10.

The movie skates across the country, interviewing dozens of average people doing the mundane and the marvelous. We meet a 70-year old oil field firefighter, a coal miner, a bicycle messenger, a vineyard owner... and so on. The cinematography is at times sumptuous and breathtaking with a great music track. The movie moves. It never gets boring and is almost always inspirational.

This movie remains on my TIVO and I watch it frequently.It is a celebration of freedom and individuality. It may be titled "America's Heart and Soul" - but it could have been titled "Humankind's Heart and Soul" because it's a celebration of what's great about all of us - wherever we live.

Enjoy

[pied · 9/10 · 5 November 2005]

The greatness of America is her people. This documentary took me out of my neighborhood and town and made me realize the true diversity and greatness of America.

We see one of the last of the cowboys out West, a family of New Orleans magicians, a Vermont dairy farmer, Latino immigrants and so much more.

Every one of the subjects in this documentary demonstrates hope. These people are true Americans with the spirit of perseverance. What I found most refreshing was the way they all loved what they were doing.

As a high school special education teacher, I plan to show this film to my students.

"America's Heart and Soul" is completely non-political and enjoyable.

Finally! A Postitive Reflection of America!

[Darcyduck · 15 June 2004]

Thank you Louis Shwartzberg! Finally, in a time where America is so divided, you have created a masterpiece that focuses on the beauty of America and why it's so GREAT! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

And a BIG THANK YOU to Disney for releasing it! This movie has been a breathe of fresh air!

America's Heart & Soul is a "MUST SEE" summer film for you and your family. This inspiring film will take you on an incredible journey through America's heartland. You will meet some ordinary and extraordinary people along the way.

This film is guaranteed to touch your heart!

If you don't love the people in this AHS u have NO SOUL.

[BluestStars · 10/10 · 11 July 2005]

So nice to see a sweet, heartfelt and genuine piece of work.

All of the negative reviews from demented lefties on IMDb shows once again that far left liberals DON'T want other Americans to be HAPPY.

They don't CARE about others happiness.

This piece of work documents simple down to earth salt of the earth Americans.

This movie says NOTHING about politics, yet to leftist sensibilities, the people in this movie should be reviled because they love their life, liberty and country.

The anger displayed by many of the miscreant reviewers of this film says more about them than it does about the actual film.

The film is splendid and I plan to get a DVD copy to show my future children some day.

I'm sorry so many of you have a problem with wholesome living in the heartland of America.

I live in NYC and I can appreciate how others live in my country.

It represents real America. Not the Left and East coasts.

[wrdunham-1 · 8/10 · 16 August 2004]

This is a great documentary. The losers who claim it is an antidote or a wannabe of Farenheit 911 do not realize this film was started years before Michael Moore ever squatted to crap out his latest propaganda.

It surprises me there are so many fools out there that truly do hate America and what makes America great. They will not love this country until it becomes another Eurotrash country of Socialism and no morals.

Most of us who live in flyover areas of this country do love America and realize that Capitalism works for everyone except low life leeches.

Most of you should know this documentary is worth seeing and will be enjoyed by everyone except the most Liberal "commies".

inspirational and moving

[FilmLabRat · 10/10 · 25 June 2004]

In step with today's documentary fad, Disney presents an inspirational, slightly goofy documentary featuring real-life story slices from Americana – people like Appalachian mountain folk and famous musician wannabes. For example, you'll meet a blind mountain-climber, an Indian elder and a rug weaver. After being fired from cooking-related jobs, Ben Cohen realized he mainly liked to eat, and developed Ben & Jerry's fabulous ice cream. Heart and Soul spotlights everyone from unique mothers, bike messengers, artists and marathon runners (one of whom has Cerebral Palsy) to more eccentric cliff-dancers and outright lunatic fringe. One guy specialized in blowing up junk. This collection of creative dreamers who love life plucks on the heartstrings without being schmaltzy. Definitely worth a look.

This girl loves this film!

[mariluking2001 · 10/10 · 12 July 2004]

If you are looking for a feel good movie, that makes you proud to be an American, this is it. I'm glad to see such a positive, inspirational, uplifting piece of work. We need more movies like this that remind us of the freedom we often take for granted, the hard working people that are behind the scenes so often giving so much, and the wonderful land that God made. This is a good wholesome film the whole family can enjoy. I especially felt encouraged to be a better person, and appreciate what I have. This picture reminds us of all the beauty of the land, but more important, the beauty that can be found inside us as a nation.

I loved this movie!

[zanarie30 · 24 June 2004]

I just got back from the premiere of America's Heart & Soul. It wasn't particularly high on my priority list of films to see this summer, but oh, what I would have missed, had I not gone. I was expecting something along the lines of the old Circle-Vision travelogues at Disneyland, but this film is nothing like that. It's funny and heartwarming, beautiful and inspirational. I didn't want it to end.

Whatever your politics are, put them aside and go see this film. You'll leave with a sense of pride for who we are as Americans at our best. But there's no flag waving going on, just simple vignettes of Americans of all walk of life doing what they love. People like us.

Refreshing truth

[wdew23 · 10/10 · 21 July 2004]

How full of hate and despise one must be to interject politics into this movie. This film displays true accounts of American individuality from very different points of view. This is the most free society on earth! Those who continuously wish for socialism and government restrictions on everything including corporations, please find a friendly European country to take you in. This is a refreshing look at Americans for Americans. I saw nothing about Democrats or Republicans, only Americans. I guess it is true that some political affiliations do hate America. Just sit back and watch real people. It seems that a positive attitude toward anything American seems evil or corrupt. I for one believe America is still great. See this film!

Longing for some good old American hooray?

[JohnDeSando · 28 June 2004]

Tired of Michael Moore's crybaby `Fahrenheit 9/11'? Longing for some good old American hooray? Then Walt Disney Pictures, who refused to distribute Moore's film, coincidentally brings you `America's Heart and Soul,' several vignettes about Americans who live freedom by doing extraordinary things from mountain climbing to making ice cream. The theme seems to be that our great country provides us with the opportunity to do what we want if we have the passion to do it.

The photography is glorious: Cowboy Roudy roams the range amid mountains only lucky people like my daughter Gabrielle can see daily (She recently moved to Wyoming with her family). Director Louis Schwartzberg (founder of stock footage firm `Energy' and additional cinematographer for `Koyaanisqatsi') has an eye for the sweeping aerial shot as well as the intimate close-up. The characters are eccentric but often daring and graceful: Mountain-dangling dancers defy gravity to gavotte with it; a Coloradoan bowls incendiary balls into old TV sets in front of admiring, obviously otherwise bored fellow sufferers of the dreaded winter. A Vermont farmer tells you how to avoid the Monday morning blues: Work seven days a week!

The freedom theme is aided by the subjects' passion to do what they choose: A gospel singer rears her six siblings after her mother's death, and those adults now call her Mom (Just listen to them sing in the choir, and you might rethink your agnosticism). Her rewards are more than six fold.

If you approach `America's Heart and Soul' as a love song to the best that America can be, you should be able to balance it with Moore's diatribe against the neocons. In either case, there is no balance: Schwartzberg neglects the poverty or, say, lack of health insurance many of the participants experience; Moore refuses to acknowledge any of President Bush's accomplishments. Both visions are free to be expressed, and we are free to debate about them. But Oscar Wilde warns, `To be entirely free and at the same time entirely dominated by law, is the eternal paradox of human life that we realize at every moment.'

The distribution of both films is a tribute to the freedom they wish to protect and the difficulty of achieving it in any lifetime.

THIS is America

[mcwagoner_1999 · 10/10 · 4 July 2004]

In a world that seems so cynical, so jaded, this film shows why America is and has been different than any other country in the world. The film doesn't need chase scenes, it doesn't need sex, it doesn't need to probe the pores on a man's skin to try to find the flaws. What it should do, is to help us remember that this is the ONE AND ONLY country in which you can follow your dreams, whatever, they may be and you have a chance, a good chance, to fulfill them.

Some reviewers want to see the warts. Why? Obsticles are what get in the way when you take your eye off the goal. Michael Moore films are what you get when you hate your own country, all the people in it and are only capable of telling half-truths. Quit whining, quit asking others to do everything for you, get some of that old fashioned American guts and optimism. Get off the couch and follow your dreams, you can do that. Europeans (and others) can't.

FREEDOM...

[RosanaBotafogo · 8/10 · 12 March 2023]

America is a vast country--three thousand miles from end to end. But it's not the land that makes America so special--it's the people. Filmmaker Louis Schwartzberg packed-up his camera and hit the road, with a goal of capturing both the unparalleled beauty of the land and the incomparable spirit of the people. He connects with people, capturing their values, dreams, and passion in a journey that reveals the stories--unusual, captivating, inspiring and emotional--that make Americans into something more than a collection of individuals. It's a celebration of a nation told through the voices of its people.

Cute, several clippings of North American residents and their stories of struggle, as well as some of their ancestors... Louis with his camera connects people, capturing their values, dreams and passions, a journey that reveals unusual, captivating stories, inspiring and moving, many beautiful random images, good stories, like the older sister who became the mother of the orphaned brothers, the word cave from the documentary FREEDOM... So many beautiful and emotional stories...

The Antithesis of Fahrenheit 9-11

[Ed-217 · 10/10 · 3 July 2004]

It was a pleasure seeing a movie that makes me proud to be an American....

The LOVE OF AMERICA came through LOUD and CLEAR.

It covered a good cross section of American experiences.

It was worth seeing.

You will leave the theater will a feel good flutter in your heart.

It is the Antithesis of Fahrenheit 9-11.

My friends loved it.

Another Disney classic.

You will want to see it again and again.

The 20 or so stories criss cross our great land....

I Hear America Singing

[GlennBeckFan · 10/10 · 2 July 2004]

"America's Heart and Soul" is the movie Hollywood does not want you to see. 'What? A film that is openly patriotic and optimistic? Quiet! Someone might hear you and buy a ticket.' This movie should be viewed not only by all Americans but by all people who want to be free. In an amazing series of vignettes we see the people who make our country a continuous celebration of the human spirit.

Here we lift the man crippled with cerebral palsy and put him in a wheel chair, and with the aide of his father, he speeds past his fellow citizens waving flags and yelling 'you can do it!' Together they finish the Boston Marathon.

Here we decorate cars with bobble head dolls or make dinosaur statues from scrap metal or we hurl a flaming bowling ball into a stack of broken televisions. Here we don't just climb mountains we toss a rope to the blind man so he can 'see' the view from the top. Here a man can go from prisoner to captain of the Olympic Boxing Team after twelve months of training and exercise resulting in a well defined dream. Here a clarinet reverberates through a synagogue in Brooklyn and a choir shakes the beams of an old church building in Mississippi. Here a woman dares to enter the male dominated sport of acrobatic flying and wins two years in a row.

We are a nation that represents true cultural diversity in which free enterprise and the free mind are as essential to the human soul as oxygen and water are to the human body.

We don't just get lemons and make lemonade, we plant the seeds our Maker put in the lemon's heart and get a whole forest of trees whose branches provide homes for the birds and shade for the weary land.

"America's Heart and Soul" proclaims the beauty of freedom without resounding political jibes. It reminds us of Providence without being preachy. It makes you weep tears of joy.

For me the only melancholy tear I shed was when the camera soared across Manhattan's mighty skyline, and I couldn't help but notice what was missing.

Such is the price of liberty, when you want to be a shinning city on a hill there are always those with greedy hands and contaminated minds who want to blow out your candle. This Independence Day weekend while you are enjoying the barbeques and rocket's red glare, be sure to tell that grand Lady Liberty holding her torch in Hudson Bay that she's as beautiful as ever because millions of people out there want to fly a passenger plane into her pedestal.

In conclusion, take the time to say 'thank you' by supporting your local movie house with your patronage. Buy a big bag of popcorn and a Coke. In a small way you will be remembering the real life heroes, our friends who daily risk their lives to keep this land safe and self determined. Honor our values and buy a ticket for 'America's Heart and Soul.'

Whitebread anyone?

[onepotato2 · 30 June 2004]

A bunch of archtypal moments enlivened by hopelessly square and outdated bromides. No amount of personal interest stories can reverse the damage being done to the U.S. by Bush and the hopeless greed of late capitalism.. America the place where you can't afford health care, and corporate a**holes are shaking you down on every front? The land where conservatives despise the constitution? The land in which racial tension has played out for two hundred and thirty years? The land where douchebags like Rush Limbaugh, President Bush and Bill O'Reilly have trained you to despise anyone who thinks, and have helped partisan conflict rage. None of that exists.

One guy here talks about diversity, which is a sick racist joke because black people are almost absent in the film. This is of course because when you think of classic cornball Americana moments (which blank the minds of middle class white people) none of the participants are black. Cowboys? nope! Folk groups? nope! Hay rides? nope! Mountain climbing? nope! Black people should just be happy that white people can strive and achieve things, and sit quietly as they're excluded again.

Don't question the countries slide into the crapper - The president needs all the thoughtless supporters he can get. This is the Ex-Lax of non-fiction film.

America's Must See Documentary

[jderrille · 10/10 · 6 September 2009]

This is a must-see for every American patriot who is flag-waving, Statue of Liberty hugging, and apple-pie eating! It's truly one of the most inspirational slices of American life in film ever produced. Appropriate for every person aged 9 months to 99. You will appreciate the stores from sea to shining sea -- from a blues-maker to an Olympic athlete...coal miner to dairy cow farmer...from a Methodist minister to a Jewish clarinetist. It's a beautiful tapestry of races and faces from blue collar to white collar and every color in between. Stunning color cinematography, inspirational musical score, perfectly paced with stories that will touch your heart and soul.