Michael Moore takes on the Trump era in a documentary that’s noteworthy primarily for its atypical degree of optimism. That’s not to say that Moore is happy about the Trump presidency, tracking POTUS from his improbable ascendancy and addressing the way media entities — including, to his credit as he admits here, himself — played softball with or benefited from Trump and his surrogates.
It’s all filtered through Moore’s trademark focus on corporate greed, in a way that’s fairly equal opportunity as Moore takes plenty of swipes at the Democratic Party for its entrenched centrism. But unlike many recent “issue docs” that spend 80 minutes terrifying you before offering a 10-minute glimpse of hope, this one spends plenty of time on positive action, from ordinary folks moved to run for office, to the inspiring teens behind March for Our Lives. Moore is still Moore, unfortunately — ready for a grandstanding gesture like hosing down the Michigan governor’s mansion with Flint drinking water, or overly-dramatizing an interview with an absurd response like “Irreversible … for how long?” — and his wide-ranging agitprop could use more focus. It is nice, though, to be equal parts alarmed and motivated.
