'Fahrenheit 11/9': Michael Moore Exposes Trump, The New York Times and Establishment Democrats [View all]

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‘Fahrenheit 11/9’: Michael Moore Exposes Trump, The New York Times and Establishment Democrats
The new documentary, which premiered at TIFF, is a sprawling polemical collage that’s less about Trump and more about how to build a progressive future.
Natalia Winkelman
09.07.18 4:41 AM ET


Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 11/9 opens with the word “Hillary.” It ends in silence. The in-between includes Hitler and Rashida Tlaib, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and West Virginia high school teachers, Bernie Sanders and The New York Times.

It’s a surprise to report that a lot of the film, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last night, catches you by surprise—not only because of the deja vu didacticism of so many contemporary political docs, but also because, by now, we think we know Moore’s shtick. Even Trump seemed to have an inkling as to what he would look like under Moore’s microscope: Back in 1998, in the green room of The Roseanne Show, Trump allegedly praised Moore’s work before expressing his hope that Moore never make one on him.

More so than many of his previous films, Fahrenheit 11/9 is a sprawling collage of a polemic, careening from issue to issue with little regard for transitions. When segues do come, they spring out of Moore’s rascally voiceover, which canopies the film with his familiar brand of wit, fervor and infectious lefty idealism. There’s also a distinct sense of self-awareness to this one, along with what feel like deliberate measures to cut against pedagogy and moralizing. This feeling comes to a head in the movie’s final sequence, which hits so suddenly and unexpectedly you’ll be a little sore from the whiplash.

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Yet overall, the documentary, in all its messy tangents, actually spends a minority of its time on Trump. Indeed, Moore’s best zingers and most penetrating indictments land on the Democratic Party, whom he implicates (along with dominant liberal news media) as part of an establishment system continually churning in place to maintain the status quo and impede forward movement. He even calls out Obama on a few occasions: for letting down the people of Flint, for accepting Goldman Sachs money, for deporting immigrants, for drone strikes. But best of all, Moore acknowledges and emphasizes that he himself is not totally free from that establishment either. “The best thing my generation did was raise you all,” he marvels to a Parkland teen in one scene. Her sharp reply: “On the contrary: social media raised us.”

Vagueness and clutter distract from the cogency of Moore’s points on several occasions, and the frenetic pace makes it constantly difficult to keep up. But by the end, he’s stuffed so many tangled tangents in there that the documentary’s impassioned spirit and impact as a whole outweigh the less convincing bits.

“How the fuck did this happen?” Moore demands in voiceover toward the beginning of the film, following a melodramatic election night montage. It’s a question that he only partially gets around to addressing, but no matter. We know the real question he’s striving to confront: What the fuck do we do now?

He might not have the answer, but he can introduce you to a few people who do.