Michael Moore in TrumpLand movie review (2016)
Its title constitutes a bit of playful bait-and-switch, as well as indicating a missed opportunity. While “Michael Moore in Trumpland” probably suggests to many viewers 90 minutes of the filmmaker savaging His Orangeness, Moore actually spends fairly little time discussing Trump and is milder in his critique than might be expected. Most of the film is, instead, not so much a defense of Hillary Clinton as a plea for people to vote for her even if they don’t like her. As for the missed opportunity: What if Moore had taken his cameras into the heartland and filmed conversations between himself and a range of fervent Trump supporters? That might have been both funnier and more revealing than what we get here, which is a monologue rather than a dialogue.
No doubt, Moore genuinely wants to engage Trump supporters. Though he may have been writing “Michael Moore in Trumpland” for most of the year, he filmed it just a couple of weeks ago, in Wilmington, Ohio, where polls indicate overwhelming support for Trump. Announcing a Michael Moore concert for the community (which, ironically enough, is in Clinton County), the filmmaker’s promoters stressed that Trump supporters were welcome to the event.
One of the most appealing aspects of the film lies in watching the show’s audience. The medium-sized theater contains some who seem to be Moore fans (could it be that all of Clinton County’s liberals might fill only half the hall?) but others are clearly Trump folk. They’re the ones—virtually all middle-aged white men—who at first sit with stony stares, arms folded across their chests.
You look at these guys and wonder what they’re expecting. Given decades of Moore’s demonization by Fox News and talk radio, no doubt some are expecting a ranting, bilious bullhorn of liberal pleading and anti-American venom. That some of these folks’ expressions soften notably—if not entirely—during the show seems to reflect two facts about Moore that they weren’t anticipating. He’s an entertainer. And he’s a patriot.
The entertainment factor kicks in first. Moore comes out and stands behind a podium at center stage; he later moves to a desk at stage right and then a chair at stage left. On greeting the audience, he notes that a section of one balcony has been reserved for Mexicans and “people who look Mexican.” Around these folks a makeshift wall is erected and they’re told they’ll have to pay to leave at the show’s end. Across from them in a facing balcony is the seating for Muslims, who are watched over by a small drone. Moore assures them the drone isn’t weaponized, it’s just there to surveil.
