America: Imagine the World Without Her

Interviews are thought-provoking. Unrevealed insights into American history gives significant context to our present day. Had no idea that there were so many black slave owners in the 1800's. Also, had no idea the first female millionaire in America was a black woman. I like how both sides of the coin are interviewed, not just one side to fit a political agenda. However, I thought covering the NSA was a bit out of place and didn't fit in well. I also thought more time could have been spent on our present administration. Regardless of your political affiliation, put your political ideology aside for a day and take a deeper look in to what you believe and how you believed it.

Miguel

Dinesh D'Souza's "America" sets out to disprove the view that America is the source of evil in the world, and he at least succeeds in clarifying the debate. What does it mean to say America is good or bad? Is anybody or anything all good or all bad? D'Souza definitely makes a case against the simplistic view that America is all bad.

One of his first targets is author Howard Zinn whose "People's History of the United States" is here characterized as an exercise in cherry-picking. For example, it is debatable to argue that the actions of Christopher Columbus and the Spanish conquistadors reflect on the reputation of the United States of America when they weren't even Americans. As a tonic to Zinn's view of America, D'Souza offers Alexis De Tocqueville's "Democracy in America," which takes a more rounded view of America both good and bad, coming out with a qualified thumbs up.

The way the world has always worked, says D'Souza, is conquest and imperialism; yet, if anything, America has been less inclined to follow the path of conquest and imperialism than the rest of the world. America has set itself a higher ideal, explicitly declaring that things should be different. Americans live up to that ideal as often and perhaps more often than they don't.

For example, D'Souza, who narrates the movie from beginning to end, says that every other continent had slavery before America (by which he always means the U.S.) existed. What is unique about America is that Americans held the ideal that all men are created equal and many Americans realized that it conflicted with the reality of slavery; so America fought a war with itself to free the slaves. Nitpickers will point out that this was not the only reason for the Civil War, but it was the reason for so many who fought that it determined that one outcome would be the abolition of slavery.

After World War II, the most powerful country left standing was the United States. While it arguably interfered in the affairs of other countries, it did not conquer them (as did other countries such as the Soviet Union). The United States invested tremendous resources in the Viet Nam War, but while this was arguably a wrong-headed endeavor, it was never the intention of the U.S. to conquer Viet Nam—just as it was never the intention of recent administrations to conquer Iraq; eventually letting them determine their own course was always in the plan. This is arguably a bad way to go about things from America's own point of view: why does this country keep liberating other countries—at great cost in blood and treasure—only to set them free? This policy works wonderfully on occasion (see Germany and Japan) but it also has been a terrible waste in some other cases. D'Souza does spend a good deal of the movie dealing with the charge that America conquered land from Native Americans and Mexico. Again, I think he has reset the terms for further debate more than demolished his opposition.

In his defense of capitalism and, more properly, the free market, D'Souza is most successful. He shows how the free market works when it is allowed to work, giving America the highest standard of living in world history. When the system is perverted, however, D'Souza does not turn a blind eye. The policies of the administration of President Barack Obama come in for a drubbing here. D'Souza already looked at the president's legacy at much greater length in his previous movie, "2016." Here he makes a memorable indictment of the motives behind the health care legislation known as Obamacare when he says that Obama made people think that it is he and the American people against the insurance companies, when it is really he and the insurance companies against the American people. (Who benefits, after all, when people are forced by law to buy health insurance?)

The movie also reenacts some historical events and portrays numerous historical figures both famous and less well-known. Don Taylor is impressive as Abraham Lincoln—better than many other Lincoln portrayers in the scores of dramas and documentaries that have featured the president. Other reenactors are good as well, particularly Janitta Swain as African-American businesswoman Madame C. J. Walker. Josh Bonzie is a little weak as Frederick Douglass, and I am afraid that his obvious wig does not help, though that is more the fault of the make up and hair department. The real Douglass had what later would be compared to an Afro, but he didn't look quite so much like Madame Pompadour as he does here.

And how could I forget the rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" by Madison Rising. (See their rendition without seeing the movie at www.madisonrising.com.) Their knock-out rock version of the national anthem kept the audience in the theater during the closing credits (even if we weren't quite sure whether or not to stay in our seats).

I saw this documentary film two days ago thinking it would be a nice start to the July 4th weekend. I was very pleased with the way Dinesh organized the film and structured it in a way that was entertaining and informative. Even though I consider myself to be fairly well-read on US History, I learned some things from this film.

It was nice to see that at least some people in this country are not afraid to speak their minds about history and take controversial issues head-on. This direct approach is something you rarely see in true propaganda films, which happen to be mostly revisionist and slightly biased. Dinesh handles some weighty issues with class and an obviously insightful, organized approach.

The film was very well done and kept a nice flow throughout. There was nice mix of documentary interviews/narrative with more movie-like animation and computer-generated visuals. There was some humor and some drama interspersed.

This is something every American should watch.

100 years ago my Irish Grandparents made the sail across the Atlantic Ocean to come to this great country...and our eyes filled with tears several times during the negative comments from the people that hate her.

We knew that America was a special land because of everyone that had arrived before us and told us how beautifully rich the land was and about all the opportunity and freedoms abound.

This movie exemplifies and echoes the reasons and passionate feelings we still have today. Both of our Grandfathers an Fathers served our country with honor in the military and it irritates me when anyone says anything negative about the most benevolent country in the world.

If you don't like America leave...you will NOT find a better country.

If you don't cry while watching "America: Imagine the World Without Her," I don't want to know you. "America: Imagine the World Without Her" is a slickly produced and entertaining documentary that attempts to fill a need in the US for a counter to hegemonic anti-American voices on the left in academia and media. It's a sober, responsible, and fact-based documentary, not at all sensationalistic or exaggerated. If anything, it is more low-key than it should be. It could have used more fireworks.

"America" features dramatic reenactments of historic personages and events. In this respect it is more like a feature film and less like a documentary. Much of the time you are not watching talking heads; you are watching fully costumed actors and fully realized sets. In the opening scenes, General George Washington is killed by the British. No, that never happened; that's the whole point. Imagine if the colonists lost the Revolutionary War. Other reenactments include the landing of Columbus' ships, life on a Southern plantation, Lincoln's assassination, Madame CJ Walker giving a speech, and Hillary Clinton working in a soup kitchen.

D'Souza opens with interviews with prominent anti-American spokespeople, including Charmaine Whiteface who wishes America did not exist, Prof. Michael Eric Dyson, a race baiter, and Prof. Ward Churchill, who advanced his own career and enjoyed many privileges and perquisites by falsely claiming Native American ancestry. Churchill is especially grotesque, arguing that he would like to nuke America.

D'Souza includes clips of Howard Zinn, Bill Ayers and Elizabeth Warren, yet another professor who advanced her own career by falsely claiming Native American ancestry. The anti-American voices outline the indictment: American stole land from Native Americans, enslaved Africans, colonized the world, and destroys its own people with capitalism.

D'Souza then responds to these charges. He points out that conquest was not unique to the conquistadors, that disease, not genocide, killed most Native Americans, and that similar population crashes occurred in Europe when the plague entered Europe from Asia. Slavery was not unique to the US. The US is unique in fighting a war to end slavery. Capitalism uplifts more people than any other system, while communism causes famines and shortages.

D'Souza veers from his own main thrust when he devotes a lot of time to identifying Hillary Clinton as a disciple of Saul Alinsky. Alinsky didn't start anti-Americanism. His book "Rules for Radicals" is an excellent primer in non-violent change. Demonizing Saul Alinsky is a dead-end.

I wish "America" were on the curricula of every student in America. It's a stirring corrective to the anti-American venom students are typically force-fed.