America is partly an imagining of a world without America, but more powerfully it is a virtual courtroom drama as the filmmakers lay out, then carefully refute the Left's moral indictments of America: to wit: that America stole the land from Native Americans and Mexico and stole the labor of slaves and the resources from the third world to build its remarkable wealth.
Part of the strength of the film is that it uses interviews with leading intellectuals on the Left, including Noam Chomsky, Ward Churchill, Michael Eric Dyson and Alan Dershowitz (who besides being the nation's premier legal mind, has the distinction of having been on Nixon's enemies list). It also featured a good deal of archival video of the malevolently charismatic (and incredibly Machiavellian) Saul Alinsky and some fan-boy gushing over Howard Zinn by Woody Harrelson and a bit more hero worship for the same by Matt Damon. Zinn is a historian and author of the execrable People's History of the United States. We recommend Bill Bennett's America: The Last Best Hope
.The highlight may have been excerpts of a speech by the rocker Bono given at Georgetown University, which won't buy him any dinner invites. And, there are important cameos by a fictional young Hillary Clinton and the full grown senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren, in high anti-capitalist dudgeon.
America is a very affecting portrait of the truth of what America's founding and her endurance has brought to the world: chiefly the end of conquest as a means of creating prosperity. It also raises profound issues of privacy in the age of NSA surveillance in our hyper-networked world and concerns over the power of the state when political enemies of the party in power are subject to IRS (and other agencies) targeting and harassment.
Rather than focus on the Tea Party, however, the filmmakers use the case of Aaron Swartz, to great effect. Swartz was an extremely talented young Internet Hacktivist who, at the age of 26, committed suicide while facing charges for leaking publicly-funded research from MIT (brought by Eric Holder's Justice Department) that carried a 35 year jail sentence and a $1 million fine.We were very moved by the film, first to tears as the litany of Left-wing accusations took their toll; and then to silent cheering when their spurious charges were refuted. Yet, at a time when paper thin stories about comic book heroes dominate the box office, it's unclear how mainstream American audiences will react. However, it is our opinion that Republicans and people who are still open to loving America will love America.
America is created by Dinesh D'Souza, and is based in his book by the same name. It is a follow-on to his 2016 Obama's America
, the fourth-highest grossing documentary of all time. In addition to his previous film, Dinesh D'Souza is the author of several books, including The Roots of Obama’s Rage and What’s So Great About Christianity. 
While a leading conservative intellectual, D'Souza is no stranger to scandal. Last month, he pleaded guilty to a charge that he used straw donors to make $20,000 in illegal contributions to a Republican Senate candidate and long time friend. Although a violation of the law, charges in cases like this are hardly ever brought, raising questions about their political motivation especially in light of the IRS targeting scandal.In 2012, D'Souza was forced to resign as president of King's College in New York over reports of an extramarital affair.
John Sullivan, the film's director, hosted the screening. Mr. Sullivan also wrote, produced and directed D'Souza's 2012 film and directed Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, the #7 highest-grossing political documentary. Sullivan also took several question from audience members after the film.
Twister, Days of Thunder, Hook and Minority Report
.America is distributed by Lionsgate.
The theatrical trailer for America.
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