Am I Racist? (2024)
The Republican Borat?
Presentation:
The presentation for this film is weak even for a low production documentary. Music is generic, camera movement feels like an unstable mirrorless vlog and the overall edit feels less professional even compared to What Is a Woman?. Matt Walsh, a right wing conservative part of The Daily Wire, interviews and explores the hypocrisies of DEI, diversity equity and inclusion. Donning a disguise of a stereotypical left wing intellectual, he focuses more on humor and entertainment rather than exposing contradictions. Even if you agree with his premise, there are a few scenes that are cringe and difficult to watch. There’s a lot of forced stuttering for comedic effect and awkward pauses and interjections that aren’t natural for him at all, I think his typically more subtle humor would be more appropriate. The way he conducts himself borders on being childish, which you could say is either to resemble Borat or the people he is mocking. That being said, there are some scenes that genuinely made me laugh out loud, about three or four times. I would say the documentary is equally as humorous as it is cringe. It’s a simplistic mockumentary with less substantial material, but I think will be blindly praised by audiences on the right.
Conclusion:
This documentary is less confrontational than the serious journalism of What Is a Woman? in an attempt to be directed toward mainstream audiences. It’s a bit difficult to gauge the reception. For people on the right, I can’t imagine there’s any meaningful insight to be gained that they didn’t already know aside from a few chuckles and for the people on the left they will probably be too offended to take the material seriously and be converted. It seems to be directed toward people on the fence of the political divide, as it does reveal fraudulent grifting in American society. It’s actually quite damning for some of these intellectual activists, particularly Robin DiAngelo, but it’s not as convincing or compelling as it could be, with what feels more like selective editing to prove a valid point. I can see why people on the left may find the documentary a bit patronizing, but it doesn’t change the fact that everything in this irony is truly indicative of modern society. It’s less demonizing as well considering it has been accused of having a bigoted and racist agenda by people that haven’t watched it; you’ll have to decide for yourself. I think it’s quite fair as he doesn’t mischaracterize the left, he simply lets people speak and allows them to hang themselves, which I think is quite tame for a political documentary and more palatable for the masses compared to his more controversial work. Not a strong doc, nearly a two if it weren’t for a few laughs.
Recommendations
No civil war, just a massacre.