6.1 | / 10 |
Users | 5.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Fahrenheit 11/9 is a documentary film by American filmmaker Michael Moore about the 2016 United States presidential election and the subsequent presidency of Donald Trump.
Starring: Michael Moore, Nayyirah Shariff, Robert J. Pickell, Mona Hanna-Attisha, Bernie SandersDocumentary | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
You can imagine the many, many reasons reviewers here have avoided covering the Blu-ray release of outspoken, controversial documentarian Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 11/9, a shot across the bow of the then-Trump administration and its fearsome leader. But with said president receiving the first-ever presidential mugshot in American history mere hours ago (at the time of this writing), I figured... why not? What could possibly go wrong? (Insert sarcastic laugh here.) I don't need to politicize or soap box. There's no benefit to declaring my politics or trying to sway anyone to go along with Moore in his attack on Trump. At this point, the lines are so deeply drawn that it seems no one is budging. You're either a MAGA-wearing right-wing militant who believes we're on the eve of civil war, a blue-bearing left-wing heart-of-gold who believes the people deserve better than a blowhard clown, the majority of Americans in the middle who wish life would just go back to being semi-normal in these divisive times, or someone from elsewhere in the world, wondering what in God's name is happening in the U.S.? I'll tell you what's going on. We've lost our collective minds. You know it. I know it. And Michael Moore certainly knows it. Does that make Fahrenheit 11/9 a good movie? Eh, if you're in camp #2 it'll prove to be a dose of common sense. Otherwise, it'll be an afront to patriotism (for camp #1), another shout in the echo chamber (to camp #3) or a documentary that doesn't offer an answer to the question non-Americans (in camp #4) are dying to ask: when will people in the U.S. chill the F out and get on with civility, progress, and mature, respectable democracy?
No surprise here. Fahrenheit 11/9 is assembled from a variety of low to moderate quality sources: 24-hour news clips, B-roll video, talking heads and roundtable discussions, man-on-the-street interview footage, and other media. And Universal's 1080p/AVC video presentation is faithful to the original film, capturing Moore's no-frills intentions without glaring anomalies that could be traced to poor encoding. There are a number of issues -- artifacting, banding, edge halos, standard definition unsightliness, etc -- but all are inherent to the aforementioned sources. Fortunately, colors are strong, skintones lifelike, contrast fairly consistent, and detail revealing (when permitted to be so). Documentary fans won't bat an eye. This is what we've come to expect from Moore and this type of release.
The same can be said of Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. There's no problems per se, though the mix is a chatty, front-heavy affair dominated by narration, interviews and apocalyptic surges of tone-matching music. Voices are clean and clear on the whole (despite some occasional air hiss and wind noise), the rear speakers are mildly engaging when utilized, a few moments of low-end oomph add welcome weight to the proceedings, and there aren't any real distractions. Any audio issues present can presumably be attributed to the AV source, not the Blu-ray's lossless mix.
The Blu-ray edition of Fahrenheit 11/9 doesn't include any special features.
Fahrenheit 11/9 has become surprisingly dated a mere five years after its release, not because it doesn't have important things to say (it does) but because so much has changed since 2018 and no one could have envisioned the current situation America finds itself in. Historic, unprecedented... at least in the U.S. Other countries have seen the things unfolding before our eyes and it... hasn't gone so well for them. Here's hoping Moore's apocalyptic predictions remain a fantasy and Fahrenheit 11/9 remains a time capsule from an era we won't have to relive. If that little conclusion proved controversial or stirred up anger in your chest, well, this is not the film for you. Regardless, Universal's Blu-ray presentation is a solid one, and its only issues originate in the film's source materials. Special features (maybe deleted scenes or additional interviews) would have been appreciated but fans of Moore's work will hardly mind.
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