Dinesh D'Souza's hatchet-job of a movie is drawing big crowds in America's heartland. You can get a taste of it from the trailer below--the ominous music, the dark tones, the barely-articulated suggestions of conspiracy and other-ness. The real giveaway is a series of scenes, cut so quickly as to be almost subliminal, of an African-American family playing the archtypical American game, Monopoly. We see the dice roll, we see the game pieces ending up in jail, we see the family erupt into conflict, dashing the game to the ground. Subtle, and yet not subtle at all.
D'Souza has said in interviews that he is following the example of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" in releasing a political documentary during an election year. Many years ago I debated family members over Moore's "Bowling for Columbine," challenging them to give the filmmaker a chance by viewing the movie. I'm afraid I'm unlikely to follow my own advice anytime soon. The thought of giving money to an enterprise as dishonest and ill-intentioned as this one makes me feel a little sick. So maybe I owe my relatives an apology. But I suspect that D'Souza owes us all one.
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