2016 Obama's America: Movie Review

I was so amazed this movie actually made it to Astoria given the political climate that exists here. My guess is because it's a very well made documentary and it’s been making money. It opened in theaters worldwide on the weekend of Aug. 24. The film ranked seventh in U.S. box office revenue for the weekend of Aug. 24-26, gathering cumulative revenue of more than $9 million from 1,091 locations.

The film premiered July 13 on one screen in Houston and slowly expanded over the past month to 1,091 theaters in such cities as Baton Rouge; Nashville, Tenn.; Denver; Phoenix; Wichita, Kan.; and Washington, D.C. The film expanded to about 1,800 theaters last Friday.

It collected $6.2 million last Friday, Saturday and Sunday for a per-screen average of $5,940, the best of any film in wide release. It added another $1.2 million at the box office Monday.

The reason it's making money is because it's not a hit piece. It's a fact based biography of Obama's political roots. Unfortunately too many didn't know what they were getting when they voted for Obama in 2008.

In great depth it deals with his early childhood, college years and the tremendous influence his Mother, Dad, friends, college professors and mentors have had him emotionally and psychologically. Once the filmmaker puts together the story of his whole life his political ideology becomes blatantly clear and easy to understand.

It also makes the best argument I've seen yet for the reasons why so many people did vote for him. This part of the movie alone makes it well worth watching no matter what your political stripe.

I counted 45 people (a big crowd for any movie theater in Astoria) at the matinee and the manager of the theater said the movie was doing a great business. I only hope that more people go see this movie, especially voters under the age of 30. Although people over 30 should see it too I don't have much faith that harden Democrats of any age will give it a chance. It's too bad because they'd become enlightened.

One of the things that frustrates me personally about politics on either side is the unwillingness to entertain the idea that maybe just maybe there's another way to look at an issue and bend on it.

Regardless, whether you're a Democrat or Republican you should see this movie before the election. Maybe it won't change how you vote but it'll certainly give you some information you're probably unaware of to think about before you do.