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America: Imagine the World Without Her

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2014 American film
America:
Imagine the World Without Her
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Written by
  • Dinesh D'Souza
  • John Sullivan
  • Bruce Schooley
Produced by
StarringDinesh D'Souza
CinematographyBenjamin Huddleston
Edited by
  • Rickie Lee
  • Jeffrey Linford
Music by
Distributed byLionsgate
Release dates
  • June 27, 2014 (2014-06-27) (limited)
  • July 2, 2014 (2014-07-02) (wide)
Running time103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$14,444,502

America: Imagine the World Without Her is a 2014 American political documentary film by Dinesh D'Souza. It is based on D'Souza's book of the same name, in which he examines various accusations against the United States. D'Souza was executive producer of the film and co-directed it with John Sullivan. Gerald R. Molen also produced. He had served as producer of D'Souza's previous film, 2016: Obama's America.

Synopsis

Setting the stage for a presentation of their views, D'Souza and Sullivan provide counterfactual histories in which George Washington is killed during the Revolutionary War, or the country is divided following civil war, creating a world without America that would be vastly worse off. D'Souza identifies himself as an Indian immigrant who chose America, and has been impressed with what a unique force for good it is, something Americans have traditionally agreed with. He claims modern leftists are “telling a new story”, however, contradicting traditional veneration for America in order to “convince a nation to author its own destruction” and “unmake the America that is here now.” He then challenges several "indictments" made against the country and American exceptionalism, including sociology professor and activist Michael Eric Dyson's claim that “Thievery" was the “critical element” for “American empire” and historian and activist Ward Churchill's assertion that the US is the world's new evil empire, and says that 1960s Chicago radical Saul Alinksy, historian Howard Zinn, and others have promoted guilt and resentment regarding wealth inequality that has helped shape the political careers of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

D'Souza argues that America's wealth has been created, not stolen. He says the $700 used to purchase colonial Manhattan from American Indians could buy many desolate parcels globally today, but that individual industry has made New York real estate worth billions. He states that in Europe, India, and elsewhere most countries have been founded on conquest, and observes that the American pattern of wealth creation hasn't been the universal norm. He cites examples like Arab historian Ibn Khaldun preferring looting to trade and says that merchants form Hinduism’s second-lowest social caste.

The film argues that American Indians exhibited this "conquest ethic" among themselves, and that most of what American Indian depopulation occurred during European colonization resulted from the accidental transmission of plagues that had earlier devastated Europe, not an intent to wipe out a people. It says modern American Indians have little interest in returning to their hunter-gatherer past. In an interview Senator Ted Cruz compares the Texas Revolution to the American Revolution. Professor and Reconquista advocate Charles Truxillo is contrasted with an interviewed American of Mexican descent who says he has no desire to return to a poverty and crime ridden Mexico and instead wants to live the "American Dream".

D'Souza says that slavery impeded American development, rather than boosting it. The film argues that slavery was an omnipresent phenomenon for most of human history, but that its abolition was "uniquely Western", noting the rarity of a "great war fought to end slavery" like the American Civil War. According to the film the Declaration of Independence essentially says “liberty is the solution to injustice,” a “promissory note” cashed throughout history by Americans such as Martin Luther King, Jr.. C.J. Walker, the black entrepreneur and daughter of slaves who is regarded as America's first self made female millionaire, is cited as an example of the type of individual success story the American system allows that is ignored by historians like Zinn because it undermines their leftist narrative. Columbia University economist Jagdish Bhagwati is shown saying that the “world is embracing the free market,” for which there is “no reason for us to be apologetic.” The film outlines how free enterprise, consumer choice rather than coercion, has raised living standards by making existing goods cheaper and creating new ones.

The film challenges the notion that America is a rapacious conqueror by arguing that Americans have sacrificed for human well being around the world, including places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Germany, and Japan, seeking in return only “enough ground to bury” their dead, as former Secretary of State Colin Powell is quoted as saying. A US veteran of Hanoi Hilton captivity is interviewed discussing his desire to liberate Vietnam. D'Souza reflects on Lincoln's assassination and the continuing cost of freedom, saying that we no longer have past heroes like Washington and Lincoln, but "we do have us” in “our struggle for the restoration of America.”

Cast

Production

America: Imagine the World Without Her is directed by Dinesh D'Souza and John Sullivan. The two wrote a screenplay with Bruce Schooley based on D'Souza's book of the same title. The documentary was produced under the director's company D'Souza Entertainment.

Marketing

Dinesh D'Souza released the trailer for America: Imagine the World Without Her on January 26, 2014. He later screened the trailer to 3,500 attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC on March 7, 2014. The filmmakers hired Christian marketing firms to create a sermon, replete with video clips, based on the documentary, and make it available for download. The Hollywood Reporter said on June 19, 2014 that over 1,000 preachers had downloaded the sermon and that insiders expected the number to reach 5,000 before the film's release. The filmmakers also emailed 120,000 evangelical churches asking them to promote the film and hired the company Faithit.com to contact 80,000 Christian consumers.

D'Souza wrote the book America: Imagine the World Without Her, on which the documentary is based. When the warehouse club Costco pulled the book from its shelves shortly before the film's release, conservative media and fans on social media criticized the move. Costco said it pulled the book due to low sales. D'Souza disputed the explanation, saying the book had only been out a few weeks and had surged to #1 on Amazon.com, while Costco stocked hundreds of much lower-selling books. He and other conservatives asserted it was pulled because one of Costco's co-founders, James Sinegal, supported Obama's politics. Costco reordered the book and cited the documentary's release and related interest for the reorder.

Since America: Imagine the World Without Her and its predecessor 2016: Obama's America share "America" in their titles, several film websites, including Rotten Tomatoes, Yahoo! Movies, and MovieTickets.com, had difficulty presenting results for the newer documentary. While these websites resolved the results, the filmmakers contacted the search engine Google to complain about a lack of immediate search results pertaining to the documentary. Other results, including 2016: Obama's America and Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, were being shown instead. They expressed concern that a lack of results, including showtimes, would affect the documentary's gross. A preliminary fix stopped listing results for either of D'Souza's documentaries. Google said the term "America" being common in film titles prevented specific results, and it updated its Knowledge Graph to show results for the 2014 documentary.

Release

Lionsgate, which handled home entertainment distribution for D'Souza's previous film 2016: Obama's America, acquired rights to distribute America: Imagine the World Without Her in theaters in the United States. Historically, it distributed in theaters two political documentaries, Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) and Religulous (2008). The UK-based Manifest Film Sales acquired rights to distribute America outside the United States with the goal of screening the documentary at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, but the screening did not take place.

Lionsgate gave the film a limited release in 3 theaters in the U.S. cities Atlanta and Houston on June 27, 2014. The cities were selected for premiering America since 2016: Obama's America performed well in them in 2012. The Hollywood Reporter said America "opened to solid numbers" with $39,000 for a theater average of $13,000. The distributor then planned a wide release for the weekend of the U.S. holiday Independence Day on July 4, 2014. On July 2, 2014, Lionsgate expanded the release to 1,105 theaters. For the weekend of July 4–6, 2014, it grossed $2,743,753 and ranked 11th at the box office. The film concluded its theatrical run after 70 days with a total gross of $14,444,502. The film did not perform as well as 2016: Obama's America. To date, it ranks as the sixth highest-grossing political documentary in the United States.

Lionsgate released the film on DVD and Blu-ray on October 28, 2014, a week before the November 4 national election day. For the week ending November 2, 2014, it ranked third in disc sales after X-Men: Days of Future Past and Mr. Peabody & Sherman. It ranked seventh in Blu-ray sales with 26% of discs sold being Blu-ray.

Reception

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The film review website Metacritic surveyed 11 movie critics and assessed 10 reviews as negative and 1 as mixed, with none being positive. It gave an aggregate score of 15 out of 100, which indicates "overwhelming dislike". The similar website Rotten Tomatoes surveyed 24 critics and, categorizing the reviews as positive or negative, assessed 22 as negative and 2 as positive. Of the 24 reviews, it determined an average rating of 2.9 out of 10. The website gave the film an overall score of 8% and said of the consensus, "Passionate but poorly constructed, America preaches to the choir."

Martin Tsai of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film was "far more invested in elaborate historical reenactments, hypothetical dramatizations and special effects than interviews, research and data." Joe Leydon of Variety wrote that "For the most part, however, D'Souza gives the impression of someone obsessed with whitewashing any and all dark chapters in U.S. history books." David Ehrlich of The A.V. Club wrote "America is astonishingly facile, a film comprised entirely of straw man arguments." James Rocchi of TheWrap wrote "America isn't a documentary; it's more like the badly-filmed version of a badly-written, meandering op-ed piece from a paper that lacks fact-checking or proofreading."

Christian Toto, reviewing for Breitbart, wrote that America gives "context to some of the country's sins in a fashion rarely heard in popular culture. Each rebuttal needs more time, more explanation, but for those weaned on Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States it will be eye opening."

CinemaScore reported that its sample of opening night audiences gave the film what The Wrap identified as a rare A+ grade on a scale of A+ to F.

Political commentary

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Dan Falcone wrote in Daily Kos: "D’Souza’s film America sets out to report that anyone who tries to make America more democratic or inclusive is motivated by disdain for the country." Media Matters for America called the film "racially charged agitprop". In Salon, Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig called it a "laughable embarrassment" which ranges "from atrociously bad argumentation to humiliating propaganda".

John Fund of National Review wrote that, despite the dangerous trends outlined, "most people will leave the theater with a more optimistic conclusion: Much of the criticism of America taught in the nation’s schools is easily refuted, America is worth saving, and we have the tools to do so in our DNA, just waiting to be harnessed." Kate O'Hare, writing for Breitbart.com, said, "None of these stories negates the horrors and injustices of the past, but that's not D'Souza's point. Instead, he's offering a different context in which to view them, and he's done it before."

Comment on reception

Commenting on the reception, Breitbart editor Ben Shapiro said “It is absurd to have movie critics critiquing the politics of documentaries professionally; they seem unable to separate their artistic sensibilities from their political ones.”

Rebuttal of Howard Zinn

In the documentary, D'Souza counters four "indictments" of the United States made by historian Howard Zinn: the treatment of Native Americans, slavery, the transfer of Mexico, and its colonialist behavior. John Fund in National Review said, "Consider his treatment of those subjects as his direct rebuttal to... Zinn, whose textbooks treating America’s history as one of ceaseless oppression dominate many American high schools and colleges." Andrew Romano, writing for The Daily Beast, said Zinn was for D'Souza "a somewhat smaller target" than Obama in his previous documentary. Romano said the filmmaker's counterarguments were disingenuous and did not prove Zinn wrong.

Treatment of Saul Alinsky

In the documentary, D'Souza says Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were followers of the left-wing figure Saul Alinsky. John Fund of National Review said, "D'Souza is the first filmmaker to mine the rich material showing the radicalism of Alinksy." Gabe Toro, reviewing for Indiewire's The Playlist, said D'Souza "flat-out compares" Alinsky to the Devil and then suggests Alinsky's influence on Clinton and Obama.

Filmmaker's prosecution

Joseph Amodeo, a political scientist and policy researcher for The Huffington Post, said a scene toward the end of the film with D'Souza shown wearing handcuffs "appears to be an apology to his 'fans' and an awkward show of penance for recent improprieties on his part (campaign finance fraud)", referring to D'Souza's criminal conviction for violating election campaign finance laws. Michael Berkowitz, also writing for The Huffington Post, said of the scene, " suggestion that his own criminal conviction and his cheating on his wife are the result of political targeting are embarrassing and without support." Fund said of the scene, "He clearly conveys his view that he was selectively prosecuted. But viewers should take the film on its own merits, he says, regardless of what they think of him."

References

  1. ^ America (2014) at Box Office Mojo (as of 5 September 2014)
  2. Bond, Paul (May 28, 2014). "Dinesh D'Souza's 'America' to Feature Megadeth Founder's Heavy Metal National Anthem (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter.
  3. McKay, Hollie (July 2, 2014). "Dinesh D'Souza's 'America' imagines the world without the USA". foxnews.com. Los Angeles: Fox News Entertainment.
  4. D'Souza, Dinesh (2014). America.
  5. "America: Imagine the World Without Her". Americathemovie.com. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  6. Buchanan, Jason. "Synopsis". Fandango.com. Rovi.
  7. Harrod, Andrew E. (July 2, 2014). "Imaging a World without America; Dinesh D'Souza's New Film Refutes Detractors Who Scorn Her History". Washington, DC: The Washington Times. Retrieved July 28, 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. Bond, Paul (January 26, 2014). "Dinesh D'Souza's 'America' Trailer Released". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  9. Bond, Paul (March 7, 2014). "New Trailer for Dinesh D'Souza's 'America': Watch George Washington Killed". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  10. Bond, Paul (June 19, 2014). "Dinesh D'Souza's 'America' Marketing Targets Church Groups". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  11. Barnhart, Melissa (July 9, 2014). "Dinesh D'Souza Says Costco's Decision to Pull His Book From Stores Was Political". The Christian Post. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  12. Connelly, Joel (July 8, 2014). "Costco pulls book by anti-Obama author Dinesh D'Souza from its stores". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  13. Chasmar, Jessica (July 9, 2014). "Costco caves: Dinesh D'Souza's book to be re-stocked after public outcry". The Washington Times. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  14. Bond, Paul (July 8, 2014). "'America' Filmmakers Demand to Know Why Google is Getting Their Search Results Wrong". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  15. Patten, Dominic (July 18, 2014). "Dinesh D'Souza's 'America' Slams Google Again Over Missing Search Results". Deadline.com. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  16. McKay, Hollie (July 16, 2014). "Google responds to problems with searches for Dinesh D'Souza's 'America'". FOX News. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  17. McNary, Dave (May 6, 2014). "Lionsgate to Distribute Controversial Documentary 'America: Imagine the World Without Her'". Variety. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  18. Wiseman, Andreas (May 15, 2014). "Manifest boards doc America". Screen Daily. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  19. McClintock, Pamela (June 29, 2014). "Box Office: Dinesh D'Souza's 'America' Enjoys Solid Launch in Houston, Atlanta". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  20. "America (2014)". boxofficemojo.com. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  21. ^ Cunningham, Todd (July 6, 2014). "Dinesh D'Souza's Doc 'America' Can't Match Box-Office Lightning of His '2016: Obama's America'". The Wrap. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
  22. "Documentary – Political". boxofficemojo.com. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  23. Nazarian, Adelle (October 28, 2014). "Exclusive: Dinesh D'Souza Reveals What's Coming to 'America'". Breitbart. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  24. Arnold, Thomas K. (November 5, 2014). "'X-Men: Days of Future Past' Holds No. 1 Spot for Third Week on Home Video Sales Charts". Variety. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  25. "America Reviews". metacritic.com. Metacritic. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  26. "America: Imagine the World Without Her". rottentomatoes.com. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  27. Tsai, Martin (July 3, 2014). "Review: 'America' documentary rebuts history of exploitation argument". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  28. Leydon, Joe (June 27, 2014). "Film Review: 'America: Imagine the World Without Her'". Variety. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  29. Ehrlich, David (July 3, 2014). "The director of 2016: Obama's America is at it again with America". The A.V. Club. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  30. Rocchi, James (June 29, 2014). "'America' Review: Another Dinesh D'Souza Doc That's Easy to Mock". TheWrap. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  31. Toto, Christian (July 2, 2014). "'America' Review: Full-throated defense of U.S. in time for the fourth". Breitbart.com. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
  32. Weekend Report: 'Transformers' Repeats On Weak Independence Day Weekend – Box Office Mojo
  33. "The Big Lie: The Film, America". Daily Kos. July 31, 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
  34. Boghun, Alexandrea (July 9, 2014). "Five Media Figures Who Endorse Dinesh D'Souza's Racially Charged Agitprop". Media Matters for America. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
  35. "Dinesh D'Souza's laughable embarrassment: A review of "America: Imagine the World Without Her"". Salon. July 22, 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
  36. ^ Fund, John (June 29, 2014). "D'Souza's America: Dinesh D'Souza takes on Obama, Hillary, Saul Alinsky, and Howard Zinn in a single bold film". National Review Online. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
  37. O'Hare, Kate (July 1, 2014). "Dinesh D'Souza's 'America' Offers Fresh Look at Saul Alinsky, Far-Left Bromides". Breitbart.com. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  38. Shapiro, Ben (July 15, 2014). "7 Movies Critics Like Better Than D'Souza's 'America'". Breitbart. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  39. Romano, Andrew (June 30, 2014). "In Dinesh D'Souza's 'America,' Slavery Wasn't So Bad, but Hillary and Barack Are Socialist Devils". The Daily Beast. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  40. Toro, Gabe (June 30, 2014). "Review: Is Dinesh D'Souza's 'America' The Worst Political Documentary Of All-Time?". The Playlist. Indiewire. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  41. Amodeo, Joseph (July 24, 2014). "D'Souza's Shameful Treatment of Conservatives Highlights Need for a Renaissance of Intellectual Conservatism". Retrieved August 19, 2014.
  42. Berkowitz, Michael (July 8, 2014). "America: Dinesh D'Souza's Deceptions". Retrieved August 19, 2014.

Further reading

External links

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