11/8/16

There is no doubt that the 2016 election was one of (if not the) most polarizing in the history of the United States. What "11/8/16" does is capture the initial, gut, visceral reactions of people on that day.

I really liked how the documentary tries to form a sort of narrative for itself by starting at the beginning of the day with all the families/people it profiles, and then following those people throughout the day as the balance starts shifting from "Hillary is going to easily win" to "this is going to be a tight race". This strategy really captures what it felt like on that day.

A lot of reviewers have mentioned the "liberal slant" of this documentary (and I think that's the reason for its very middling rating), and there is a definitive bias towards those who wanted Clinton to be victorious. However, I didn't feel that this at all ruined the experience. In fact, for the narrative of this doc to really work dramatically, it had to be focused more on that side of the story.

I enjoyed watching "11/8/16" because it was able to put me back into the whirlwind of emotions of that momentous day. Even though the candidate whose name I scratched on the ballot did not win, I'm fascinated by Presidential politics as a whole and thus am always interested in new perspectives.

This "documentary" was entertaining and I enjoyed listen to the various viewpoints. The problem is, the "documentary" viewpoints were overwhelmingly one-sided. The movie did show a few Trump supporters but the entire movie was edited and the questions asked were against Trump. In my opinion, a "documentary" should show an unbiased viewpoint and analysis on the topics discussed. I especially did not like how they made the couple from Michigan (if i remember correctly) look bad by only showing a small portion of the conversation they were having when they mentioned Muslims. Additionally, the movie shows the racism and how the Hillary supporters talked down about the other side. The "documentary" showed the producers opinion instead of an unbiased analysis. A problem our entertainment industry has.

I read the other reviews here. I did not notice it at the time but agree there may be a slight liberal bias here. Mostly I thought it was just a capture of a cross section of people in America's "election days". The real downfall here is that this movie is so boring. Having no point of view is great for a documentary, to keep their views out of it, but they need to have some kind of point. When I watch a documentary about the 2016 election, I don't really want to watch a guy play a ukulele for 5 minutes and talk about how great his girlfriend is for another 3. It is also quite repetitive. What would make a much more interesting documentary is the story of one of its subjects, for example the well spoken Alabama man who was voting for the first time after just being exonerated after serving 30 years on death row!

I implore everyone to see this documentary. A wholly impartial snapshot of America, its people and their political thoughts. No matter who you are you will love and hate and every minute of this movie. And that is an excellent thing.

"11/8/16" follows 10 or so persons/families on the day of last year's presidential election. That is the entire movie and it's more than enough for any movie. What this movie nails is that it actually captures America. Of course you have your bleeding heart Trumpers and Clintonians. You have whites, blacks and Hispanics. But far more interestingly (and accurate) you have Sikhs, third party voters, non- voters, felons, and even an a man exonerated from death row who is voting in his first election in 30 years. Enough slices of America are covered to get some semblance of an understanding of America as a whole, which is only possible by investigating its smallest pieces and adding it up. This is the fundamental virtue of the movie.

Amassing as many viewpoints as is reasonable and cross-cutting between them doesn't allow the viewer to began an argument and make him or herself feel right. It only allows the viewer to listen, then to listen to another viewpoint, then another, then a viewpoint you had no possibility of considering before you empathize wholeheartedly with every single person on screen. Of course you'll disagree, agree and be indifferent, but it will be impossible not to empathize. There's not one single person in this movie (and dare I say America) that wouldn't have a new understanding of someone who is not in their social sphere. And that, to me, makes this the most powerful and best documentary of the year. It's at times laugh-out-loud funny, profound, academic, truthful and poignant. Five huge stars. On Netflix today.

I watched this whole thing. As the day progressed, they showed dramatic, and rare, examples of people who thought they needed HRC to win. The Trump supporters were shown as stupid or self-centered. As it became obvious that Trump would win, the slant to the left tilted way further. The ending comments were actually offensive if you voted for Trump.

Waste of time- that's 105 minutes I can never get back.