American Chaos (2018) User Reviews

listen to them

[ferguson-6 · 7/10 · 13 September 2018]

Greetings again from the darkness. Politics in the United States is an embarrassment to any citizen who is paying attention these days. And by "these days", I'm referring to at least a couple of generations, if not even more. The bickering between and within political parties is more closely related to playground arguments than debates among statesmen. The most effective wall being built is the one between the two sides - it's a wall that has little to do with reason or "the greater good", and everything to do with standing steadfast in one's belief that an opinion is a fact that should be shared by all. Enter stage and film producer Jim Stern ... a self-described political junkie.

Mr. Stern grew up in a house of "Kennedy Democrats" and all but worships former President Barack Obama. He opens his film with clips of past Presidents, dating back to Theodore Roosevelt, and states his purpose as a desire to understand how so many Americans could vote for Donald Trump. It's an admirable mission, and Mr. Stern is to be commended as one of the few extremists (on either side) willing to listen to what the other side is saying. It's 9 weeks after the election, and Stern is in the audience for Obama's farewell speech. He (Stern) has tears in his eyes, as the man he so admires is being replaced by one who inspires little faith or respect.

We now flashback to 6 months prior to the election. Stern paraphrases Atticus Finch from TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, and pledges to try and understand the other side by getting to know their point of view. His road trip takes him from Florida to Cleveland to West Virginia to Arizona. Stern's approach is to present himself as a neutral interviewer so that folks don't get defensive, and instead just open up about their views. He speaks to a man who is a legal immigrant from Cuba, a Midwest Pastor who is every bit as adamant in his beliefs as Stern is in his own, a conservative radio talk show host in Arizona who eloquently states her case, and folks in West Virginia who just want the coal mines back up and running so that they might escape poverty. One of the men he speaks with is part of the infamous Hatfields and McCoys feud, and he admits to voting for Obama twice - but is now convinced Trump is the best hope for rescuing the state's economy.

Stern uses the ongoing campaign as the structure for his road trip and story, and doesn't shy away from admitting Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" speech was a turning point ... as was the last minute renewing of the FBI investigation into her actions. But since we know all of that, what is most fascinating here is listening to regular folks ... voters ... providing insight into their viewpoints. These mid-America citizens are tired of politicians being bought and sold. Trump was saying what these people were thinking - he was reaching out to (mostly white) disaffected voters. Stern is stunned at the ovation Trump receives at the Republican convention in Cleveland. He is surrounded by tens of thousands of Americans who don't believe what he believes. It's a powerful moment for him and the film.

"They hate her (Hillary) and they hate Obama too." Stern is hit with the harsh reality that his idol is not idolized by all. His most accurate statement is that blue state voters and red state voters simply do not understand each other. With so many of one group clustered in California and the northeast, while the others are spread across the middle of the country, it's really no surprise that these citizens have different views and needs. It's also not surprising that since the "mainstream media" is equally clustered in those two geographic areas, that information distributed is skewed towards those views and issues. Abortion and gay rights appear to be non-factors in his discussions, while jobs, corruption and illegal immigration are what matter.

Again, Mr. Stern is to be commended for letting these citizens speak their mind. It's a nice contrast to another high profile documentarian renowned for editing to prove his own well-publicized views. Stern's brother was a key negotiator in the Paris Accord, so he certainly has a personal stake in the drastic political change. In fact, we often see his true emotions despite his ability to remain impartial to those speaking on camera. Election night with violin music is a bit too much, but for the most part, Jim Stern and Atticus Finch work together here to enlighten the "other" side.

Worth watching, in fast forward in parts and with caveat of the

[boydpeters · 7/10 · 8 January 2019]

As a non US person seeing much good in either party I was hoping for something impartial, like the great film Fail State about the US tertiary education $y$tem. I will be fair the film did give voice and good unedited air time to a range of people and did not try to make them look stupid. I have no doubt the intentions of all involved were good and honest and it showed. I just don't think these same people were able to overcome the structural elephant in the corner that West and East coast elites (ie the people who made this film) don't experience the lives of those in the "fly-over states", which is the heartland of the country- these people once a middle class, now a country with so many 1 to 2 paychecks from a wipeout. I don't think they are mentally capable of grasping the answer to the questions they were trying to find answers for. Obama gave the same hope to millions that Trump did, different side of the same coin. Those people under Obama were left worse off, as I think those hoping Trump will deliver long the structural change will also eventually be worse off. The swamp is as Democrat as it is Republican and doesn't care for anyone but the elites, insiders and donors. I felt the film tried to give an honest voice, but never really wanted to find actual understanding. In that the techniques of propaganda and subtle mocking are still evident in this film. This is part of the problem. It seems to have been produced for fellow lefts/ Democrats. Stern would have done better to not make it so much about him. Louis Theroux would have done a better job. Less myopic, less inherently biased, and bringing no baggage From an entertainment perspective and struggling with these unavoidable biases I give it a 3. From an achieving its objective, even in a shallow kind of way I'll give it a 7 because I think the voices interviewed were entitled to be heard and it still commands a worthwhile place on the shelf of the conversation. If you really want to understand those who voted Trump read the book Deer Hunting with Jesus by the late Joe Bageant. There is a 10 year old interview with him on YouTube titled "LONGVIEW: Deer Hunting With Jesus" which does better in 7 minutes than this film does

best and fairest portrayal of 2016 election from a liberal you could hope for

[outpix · 7/10 · 5 February 2019]

James Stern is an unabashed Obama loving liberal, and he does his best to understand the other side. Where he fails is in giving time to Conservative subject matter experts on policy. Conservatives are portrayed as fear mongering but it's hysterical to see throughout the movie all the fear Stern has if Trump were to win. This alone is worth the price of admission. Yes it's biased but it's the best once could expect from a left gone mad.

A film documenting liberals journey through the 2016 election, a slice in time, as flawed as it is.

[tetrahex · 24 October 2018]

Starts off with the myth, the Kennedy lie, a man he worshiped, but who would have been ripped to shreds by the very left he believes today. The Kennedy's were in reality the first beneficiaries of the modern lefts propaganda machine having gained total control of the media system, "Camelot", when the reality drove Marilyn Monroe to suicide. Ted Kennedy even skated by when a woman mysterious drowned in his car, and these were the naifs who were responsible for the reckless 1965 immigration act which changed the country with no consideration to the consequences, and these considerations go unexamined by the left to this day, because its about pure faith, not reason, but pure faith.

And this documentary is testament to that, its value is in documenting the derangement of the left during this time. He's clearly distraught, but doesn't actually know why, because at the end of the day, Trump is to the left of both Kennedy or even Bill Clinton. A man who was pro LGBT before it was politically convenient, a man with Jewish grand children but is still called "racist" and "xenophobic" because the truth is the only thing that has changed is how far the left have lost the plot, they won too much, they gained too much cultural power, and it made them lazy, and corrupt, close minded and frankly intolerant. Questions are now hate speech because of how fragile their ideology has become. Everything is racist, everything is xenophobia, because the reality is that they have become so extreme that they don't believe in enforcing borders at all. Consequences be damned, its not about reason, but faith, so it doesn't matter.

And so they talk endlessly about empathy, but this is simply re-branded virtue signalling at fashionable causes. In one breath "black lives matter", and in the next pushing to divert resources instead to people who shouldn't be here in the first place. How many homeless are in Chicago? Thousands, but the left will walk over their bodies to find fresher "victims" to raise up, because its not about real change, its about appearing virtuous. The left have patted themselves on the back for so long that they just assume they are correct now, always pushing the line about being on the right side of history. But are they really, they speak of sustainability but they can't even sustain their own fertility rates, they don't even care about something as fundamental as the next generation for the continuance of their society, never mind their ideas. So when an alternate narrative comes along pointing out the flaws of the left, they simply cannot deal with it.

And its notable the cost of this virtue is never to be paid by themselves, the demand is always that others be forced to pay for their charity. No one is stopping these billionaire liberals from investing in the inner cities, its very telling that they instead only focus on politics instead.

The lefts fixation on credentialism is highlighted by this films fixation on Hillary Clinton's CV, which was the result of nepotism and objectively unimpressive in accomplishments outside her ability to rack up titles. On the night of her defeat, she abandoned her followers in their moment of confusion and grief, proving just how unqualified for leadership she was, and how flawed the judgement of the left has become. A fact not readily admitted to this very day.

While I give him credit for showing some of the other side of the story, the techniques of propaganda are still evident in this film, the selectiveness of what they show, especially the clips of Trump say it all, but I guess its also the only side the left would see, which makes it accurate in a strange way. Assertions are always made and never questioned, just repeating political talking points with no self reflection. The second amendment is the final guarantor of liberty, the left attacks this while wailing about fascism. The Paris Accords were meant to divert hundreds of billions of dollars at the drop of hat over measures their very own data claimed would do effectively nothing, believing in climate change is irrelevant when you have no viable solution, and the lefts conflating political agendas with science is as dishonest as it gets. People are being mindlessly railroaded into vast expenditures of public money with no actual consideration for the opportunity costs. Everything is inevitable based on their assumptions, which are just presumptions, from outsourcing jobs to whether certain industries were viable when the left were busy rigging the game with subsidies and penalties.

We now live in a world where the "good liberals" of google fired a man over science, and now look to quietly emulate the totalitarian internet censorship of the chinese. They believe themselves to be so right that dissent can only be "hate speech" and "fake news", their arrogance is the real danger, and this documentary documents a slice of the delusion. The left killed religion, the party became their new church, and the the results, the behavior we see are predictable. I say this as a former democrat, the left isn't what they imagine themselves to be. They don't understand the other, because we live in their world, they don't live in ours.

Clueless Liberals

[jmiller21 · 7/10 · 20 February 2019]

James Stern, to his credit, displays what a clueless liberal looks like. He is totally detached from the realities that most Americans face and the values they hold across the greater part of this country. He attempts to educate himself, but rather than "listen" as he claim, he cops a condescending attitude toward the religious hard working middle Americans that make up much of America. I though he actually had an "ah ha" moment when he talked to the rancher on Arizona border about the illegal immigration crisis and the realities of illegal border crossing but then defends those who would open American to those not invited or welcome here. People watching this video can, unexpectedlly, reaffirm that America made the right decision in 2016.

I'm a never Hillary guy

[pmoen-53379 · 1/10 · 19 December 2019]

Sad to watch the eye rolling, head shaking, blank stare, complete uncomprehending disbelief of this documentarian. Oh, I am a 58 year old white male veteran who has never been unemployed since I turned 14 years old.

A film documenting republican Trump voters during the 2016 election

[DrWilhielmWonk · 7/10 · 14 January 2019]

Aside for a liberal, black professor, the sympathetic interviewer provides a veritable conveyor belt of one annoying, low-information Trump voter after the other - and encourages each one to express their own personal misconceptions. It's a bit painful to watch and resembled having to watch paint dry - or worse, having to read an Ayn Rand novel from the first page to the last.

Despite the best of intentions by the filmmaker James D. Stern, the interviews of poorly educated republicans - and one happy-go-lucky, rich and overprivileged Floridian fuddy-duddy (James Snot-Nose, the III) - fails to provide any actual 'Aha!' moments. If anything, it cements preconceptions that the presidential election of 2016 was not about wealth and income, but rather the level of education as post-election polls and analysis by FiveThirtyEight indicated.

People lacking a high-school education were the most likely to vote for Trump, while people with doctorate degrees the least likely. The pattern even held true statewide: in 10 of the best educated states Hillary won, while in 9 of the 10 worst educated states Trump won. To summarize, if you ever wanted to know what it looks like when a bunch of people climb up Dunning-Krugers' mount stupid, then have a look at this doc.

This Stern guy got schooled!

[backura · 1/10 · 4 August 2019]

Typical liberal so terminally infected with Trump Derangement Syndrome that he is incapable of truly understanding what happened on election night 2016. The Trump supporters he talked to didn't phase him at all. The filmmaker's liberal bias is so ingrained in him, he had a clueless look on his face throughout the entire film. The most telling statement of the liberal state of mind came towards the beginning when Stern made the comment expressing his view that a non-politician has no business leading the country. I almost felt sorry for the guy.

Good journalism

[bohemianrh · 8/10 · 25 May 2020]

This is a brave and insightful piece of journalism that continues to have relevance. It deserves a wider audience than it has gotten and I'm frankly surprised there aren't more works covering the voter surge that brought Trump to power in 2016. Remarkable documentation of a historical moment and the processes leading to that moment. The ratings are necessarily skewed because of the political nature of this piece but I enjoyed it immensely.

If You're An Indoctrinated Democrat...

[caf-19 · 1/10 · 7 July 2020]

You'll love this documentary. It's yet another lIberal Democrat leaning, factually vacant, anti-Trump melange. This frequently biased propaganda piece makes Trump out like a freak and pervert, while completely IGNORING the actual TRUE facts that Hillary Clinton rode MANY times of the EIGHTY or so trips the Clinton's took on Jeffery Epstein's "Lolita Express" to his secret orgy houses in BOTH the Caribbean and Mexico. (Never mind middle-aged, out of shape, Prince Phillip; Visualize HIllary with an exploited, drunken & drugged under-age minor, for a twist of your stomach) Hillary Clinton is as much of a freak, and political miscreant as her long-time husband, horny hound dog, and partner in crime, Bill.

But this piece of biased indoctrination-on-film pretended Hillary, the female Dillinger, is a nun; as he displayed salt-of-the-earth Trump followers as illiterate dupes.

This is THE extant fault of this prejudiced 'documentary' and Liberals and Socialists across the world: Starting with the Papa Leftist of them all, Karl Marx, they suffer from toxic narcissism. They believe their views are the only correct view. It HAS to be! Because it came from the mouth of some pompous, over-educated metrosexual. Leftist Democrats and Socialists view their love for Liberalism, their fervent and naive beliefs in the illogical and unattainable promises by their polished elitist politicians, their years of intense indoctrination at their Eastern or Western colleges, and their dismissal of religion and worship of God as the VIRTUES that set them a cut above. They truly believe that they are better equipped, and even entitled, to 'rule' us homely hicks. Us 'Deplorables' that have only been educated by High School, the Bible, our parents, our businesses that we started from scratch, and the mortgage the bank holds on our land and homes, we must shut-up and allow the 'worthy' people to run us, and our government. The Media, ALL of it, is in total support of this Democrat plan. They even have a name for it: THE GREAT RESET.

In short, we conservatives may be educated by real life, we may know, by experience, what works and what absolutely doesn't. But government as thy God, pie-in-the-sky socialism preached by people who have never really worked for a living, is the agenda the Democrats expect us to docilely follow - and obey! Or we WILL be canceled. The divide grows wider between Real America and our upper class, globalist elites.

Since Epstein's extremely faked "suicide" in August, 2019, in a New York jail, while TWO guards allegedly slept through the whole thing, and all the cameras were, oddly, broken - I think some Truths about the lying, murdering Democrat Party and it's 'superstars' (Even the pretty boys of the 60's and 70's) is finally coming to light. Are we SO sure Marilyn killed herself? Her and John may have shared too much in their frequent romantic trusts. And not even Bobby could break her intense infatuation with President John Kennedy...

Now it's 22 years into the 21st Century. There's no more Camelots. But we sure did appreciate plain talking, rich-but-blue-collar Donald Trump. The film attended a brief campaign period of American politics. But what all happened in those four wonderful/awful years Trump was in the driver's seat? Our country did great. We were respected again by the world. Employment was UP, Terrorism was down. And DJT was CRUCIFIED by a vicious, hateful political machine that excludes outliers; self-made businessmen who won't suckle from the peon Taxpayer's teat need not apply.

In addition, the ENTIRE Russian Hoax has been discredited by the US Justice Department. It was all lies and synthetic manufacture against DJT by the HRC campaign. It was grudgingly proven false by the Justice Department to be completely unfounded; a paid-for, hatchet-job ordered by Hillary Clinton and Co. Will she ever get consequences for this? It's a bigger- more malignant - crime than the Watergate break in. That crime lost a President his job, and put several Republicans in prison. Will Justice ever occur for Hillary and the DNC in the swamp known as Washington, D. C.?

This factually incorrect mocu-mentary flirts at and pretends to have journalistic fairness. But it absolutely doesn't. It plays fast and loose with only the belief system of the producers cameramen, and editors. Their product, their truth. Which is exactly what this film is, a biased batch of pre-conceived Democrat Leftist views.

PostScript: 2022.

So now it's been around 17 months since the imposter-in-Chief, addled Democrat Joe Biden, has been 'leading' our country. His 'leadership' or rather that of his Socialist handlers pulling his strings, is causing a steady and rapid decline in the USA economically and morally.

The Afghanistan debacle was sloppily, amateurishly, handed over to Islamic radicals, the Taliban. How many Americans, and Afghan friends of Americans have died there since then? The Democrat led US left Three BILLION dollars-worth of technologically advanced military weapons for the Taliban to gut - Or more likely, for the CCP to dismantle and copy - then use on Taiwan, as they forcefully take back this Gem of a free capitalist society in Asia.

Gas is at $5.79 and MORE per gallon in the US. Groceries are unaffordable, housing is unaffordable., and Economist's are predicting a "Major Recession" aka, a depression. Crime and homicides are up exponentially; especially in Democrat run cities. And American optimism is at a new low.

What I am asking of you Democrat leftists is to please consider that the pro-Democrat slant of this film is a lot of hogwash. Indeed, please be reasonable and admit that Leftism and socialism is not a viable approach to real life.

When America looks in the mirror...

[bluefoxniner · 8/10 · 28 April 2021]

When America looks in the mirror and doesn't like what it sees, the easiest thing for it to do is to blame ideals and beliefs that are in essence the core of decency.

YES it is extremely uncomfortable viewing for Trump supporters who have arrived at this juncture fuelled by inner racism and an embarrassing inability of any critical thinking skills.

YES they are funny to watch..but the REAL DANGER is that these people are ridiculously powerful. Imagine if you will, giving 5 year olds nuclear missiles and codes to play with...that's how dangerous Trump supporters are.

An uncomfortable watch because reality is uncomfortable.

Just skip and watch msnbc

[drewbaird · 2/10 · 4 February 2019]

Trump supporters are shown as idiotic zealots and he "just can't understand why".

This one sided presentation should offend both righties and lefties. He is just so confused....give me a break

Liberal extravaganza

[shilohryder · 1/10 · 5 November 2019]

Yet another liberal biased documentary on a subject they can only blindly see one side of. This just shows their blatant liberal bias and negativity. Watch something else because this is not worth any positive free thinking persons time. I'd rather watch paint dry

cry baby liberal

[beverlyhillsautogroup · 5/10 · 28 March 2020]

This guy Stern is a loser and a cry baby, just like the rest of the Liberals. Trump will go down as the GREATEST President of all time, slightly edging out Reagan. Dont forget Reagan was a democratic, he realized the democratic party is a scam, ran as a republican and blew out his opponent, twice!! The only way Democrats EVER win another election is with illegal votes, example NO ID REQUIRED TO VOTE. Can you believe these Democrat states with their garbage policies! You need ID FOR EVERYTHING in life, but not to vote??????? Now states like NY are letting illegals obtain drivers licences, these liberals are tearing this country to pieces. G-d bless Donald Trump!!

Stern has a lot of mine

[jdwyland-13303 · 1/10 · 9 March 2021]

He could at least see a plastic surgeon and buy some chin , holy moly , I would not be photographed if I looked like that