Review of 2016: Obama's America (2012) by Jakeeb — 24 Aug 2012

An impressive piece of work. It was the furthest thing from boring. You're in Washington DC, the next clip you're looking at Mumbai, and then the high-rises of Hawaii, some of the poorest sections of Indonesia, Kenya, and then back to New York City.

So many disparate clips of video, weaved together that underline the theme of our president's life. Dinesh identifies so well with the subject, he draws many comparisons between his life, growing up in India, and our current 44th leader of the free world.

However, he draws deep distinctions in the belief systems of the American people, along with the founding fathers of America, and the anti-colonialism that Barack Sr. stewed in throughout his life. The influence of his father's beliefs become more and more apparent as the film progresses, and intersects with the policy decisions, and some of the outlandish off-the-cuff statements the President has made over the past 3 1/2 years.

The editor did a phenomenal job of finding something else besides the Ken Burns affect to tell the story, and Kudos to the president himself for doing such a fine job of narrating from his own book, "Dreams from my Father.

" It really made the story come alive. The shaky camera stuff, seems to be trendy in film making, but I'm glad they kept that to a minimum. If you're worried about a diatribe breaking out in the middle of the documentary, Dinesh would have none of it.

He makes his point by collating simple facts, that any good journalist could have dug up, prior to 2008. He lays those facts on a trend line, and shows you the thinking behind what's happening, and lets you draw the conclusion of what 2016 will be like if we choose Hope and Change again.