-
The world is changing.
-
Its shifts have been subtle,
imperceptible even.
-
And yet now, as I fly over the Atlantic,
something's erupting.
-
Its rumblings have been long felt
in Europe.
-
And yet, it is in America, where it is
finding its drama, its crescendo,
-
its face.
-
If I were a sociologist, I might call this
phenomenon, national populism.
-
And yet, being someone who seeks to
understand the world through its people
-
I'm hesitant to begin this documentary by
ascribing labels.
-
I am here because I'm seeking an
understanding
-
not of what I've read about populism, but
through the untold story
-
of what lies before me.
-
I'm arriving in America with no fixed
route, a shoestring budget, no team
-
and few contacts.
-
And yet, what I'm certain of, is that I
will be touching down
-
at a critical moment in its history
-
There is an election ahead, but I'll be
running a different type of campaign.
-
It is one without party affiliation, lobby
groups or the seeking of political power.
-
Rather, it is a campaign to seek the
elusive heart of America.
-
And if she be willing, to narrate the
story she wishes to tell.
-
As an outsider, passing through.
-
NEW YORK
(flight announcement)
-
I have arrived in New York and America is
before me.
-
My heart is beating and in being alone
as I arrrive on this great continent
-
I think of the thousands of migrants who
have touched upon her shores,
-
drawn by the calling of a fresh start, a
dream of liberty, or in many cases,
-
the promise of freedom from tyranny.
-
The sense of being an outsider will never
leave me in America, yet in some ways
-
will help me, in shaping my understanding
of what it is to be truly American,
-
especially, as the fear of the other
becomes used as an electioneering tactic.
-
Where does one start with the madness of
America?
-
How does American politics work?
Shit! I don't know!
-
Its conflicting ideas?
-
But I'm saying Bernie and Trump are the
same person. Two old white men with a
-
different version of tan.
- No, I'm just sayin' that popular...
-
Its clashing ideals
Didn't Al Gore win the prime vote? - OK
-
Its cultural vivacity.
-
Hillary is only gonna win because
its bad cop versus worse cop.
-
Kaleidoscopic intelligence of its people.
-
She told me in 9th grade,
if you wanna know
-
how anything works in this country
you follow the money.
-
Or the magnetism of its energy.
-
Even in black America there's a hierarchy:
light skin versus dark skin, long hair,
-
short hair, kinky hair.
What does that mean?
-
I realized that I was stepping into a
cacophony of ideas, emotions and history.
-
I decided that rather than trying to order
America...
-
And you're gonna give a guy whose tagline
is "You're fired!" the nuke code? - Yes
-
...that I would acquiesce to its madness,
its inspiration, its narrative.
-
My first task was not to try to make sense
of her, but to listen.
-
We're not founded on inclusive, we're
founded on freedom. The idea that everyone
-
here, who believes in what we believe in, is
cool. That's not inclusive, that's an agreement.
-
The immigrants? I'm talking about the
immigrants throughout the last 300 years have
-
used the Statue of Liberty as a sign of
freedom - Right
-
and escape from religious persecution
and ethnic persecution.
-
There already is a fence,
-
so what's the difference
between a fence and a wall, right?
-
(Jim) So it's a metaphor like...
- it's a metaphor. It speaks for a bunch of hate.
-
But there's already a fence up there right?
-
They see, you know, these mamasitas and
they hear all these things about Hispanics
-
being rapists and the women coming in and just
being nothing more than cleaners,
-
and people to do your backwork shit. Then they see
9/11 and they hear about the Chelsea
-
bombing so you know they're gonna blame
ISIS. It's like let's fuck all these
-
people up. And they are on board with it.
-
We're an oil industry town and for us if
the oil industry isn't turning, we're not
-
making money so there's all these workers
but there is no money. There's very much a
-
sense of other. Anybody who says that
racism is not alive in America in 2016 is
-
fucking crazy. Bottom line. Racism is
alive and well. It's a problem. And it needs to
-
be addressed. I don't want my daughter
growing up in a world the way it is today.
-
I've woken up on a beautiful morning
in New York.
-
I have the feeling that I am within life
and the first sense
-
that America is willing to share
her story with me.
-
My head is buzzing with conversations of
Trump's war, race, immigration, feminism
-
and I want to go out into life and be part
of the ongoing dialogue of the city.
-
WHAT OF HOUSING
-
There's the greedy and the super rich that
come in and use this as a playground
-
and just spit on it and leave.
- Right
-
These people are so wealthy but they don't
even live here. So that's one reality.
-
Then you have the reality of people who
are homeless, who are ill and there's
-
nobody interested, or capable, or can afford
to help them. So they just drift around here
-
and they're a real nuisance. I know I
sound reactionary and crazy, but it's sad.
-
We read about populism as a social
phenomenon and yet what is it really?
-
As I listened to New Yorkers speak of the
consequences of exploding house prices
-
I began to understand the profound impact
it has on the different earning brackets
-
of society.
-
Radical wealth disparity seems to be creating
anger and jealousy at those looking upwards
-
and yet simultaneously a frustration and
lack of empathy looking downwards.
-
It felt a profound signifier of social
decohesion and I was fascinated to hear
-
how these phenomenons were playing out
in the lives of normal people.
-
Many American families across the United
States if they lose their jobs they're two,
-
three months from being homeless. I can't
even contemplate what that means.
-
That means if you lose a job, that two,
three months later, if you don't get a
-
substitute job and your car breaks down
you can't fix it or you can't pay your
-
rent, you're homeless. I mean this is the
wealthiest country in the world?
-
And understanding why people are voting
for populists has to gravitate in the
-
reality that the issues are profound and
real. Even people who would never vote
-
for populists, seemed as animated by the
challenges of immigration, social security
-
and housing as those who would.
-
How can you have a Hitler, how can you
have a Mussolini? I mean how can you have
-
that? With the Trump thing you get a
little insight of how people are so angry
-
that they will vote for a madman.
-
Hitler came in because they were economically
on their knees and I think, even though
-
you come to New York City and you see
there's a lot of wealth and entertainment
-
and it's fun and people live here, and we're
not on our knees, but a good part of
-
America, the backbones of America are on
their knees. So why that can't happen again
-
and here we go, we've got Trump.
-
GAZBE + THE HUMAN HEART
-
I walk from Central Park, grateful for the
honesty of the conversation, but feeling
-
melancholic about the state of things.
-
- Poetic right now or do I sound high?
- Poetic. - Alright, poetic it is.
-
As if by design, a chance encounter with
some young men reframed the narrative.
-
(Jim) That's fucking beautiful man. What's
this song called?
-
- About my business.
- This is amazing. The law of attraction
-
is so amazing and so heavily active and
present.
-
(Jim) It's like Spiderman. There he goes,
up there. (laughter)
-
(Jim) ...location change
- Oh yeah
-
There was an indescribable energy of
serendipity and connection. Within minutes
-
we decided spontaneously
to film a music video.
-
This is one of the most beautiful things
about the world even though there is so
-
much negativity. This is one of the
positive things, this is beauty,
-
this is art, this is love right here.
-
♪ about my business. I'm a pro,
P-R-O.
-
Keystone on my witness
T-O want me to fix this, end this, and ya'll want this♪
-
They follow this new rule order. Nobody
just wanna be free. Everybody is locked
-
up in a box.
-
The way this world is going right now. I
mean in this country, it's getting real
-
bad out here, but through all the
negativity you see the fine, like this
-
man right here. My man, how you doin?
- What's up man?
-
See a musician right here. Love the
smile.
-
♪ Some things that I can change to make me
a better man. My yesterday is gone. Today
-
I'm a new me. Some hills I had to climb,
some lessons know a time. Now I'm
-
a better man. Today, today I'm a new me. ♪
- What's up man? - I like that.
-
Like I got up and danced with you. I hope
that you would get up and dance with my son
-
when he danced. Like, what? I'm gonna be
scared of you 'cause you're a different
-
color than me. What does that mean?
-
People, we degrade each other. You get what I'm saying?
-
We touch, we see, we feel, everything.
- With lack of knowledge you do irrational things,
-
With knowledge, you know better,
so you do better.
-
I'm just saying we're all the same. People
are scared of that. I don't know why.
-
Everybody's gotta stop the hate and we all
gotta come together and you know what?
-
Until that happens, we're in trouble.
- I'm very worried. If we're gonna have a
-
reality show star be running for president
we should have at least a good one.
-
If Donald Trump gets in to this presidency
we're in trouble.
-
I don't know why, but as human beings we
so often forget the gifts we have and the
-
blessings of each day. For the first time
my investigation into populism had
-
penetrated the realm of intellect and
issues. And in a chance meeting, the illusory
-
boundaries we hold up as human beings were
being dismantled. New York was revealing
-
something too often kept in darkness. The
human heart.
-
He's against the blacks, the whites, the
gays. He's against everybody. The jews.
-
I mean what was wrong with this country?
The muslims. I love the muslims. What's
-
wrong with the muslims? That's what makes
us the United States of America.
-
People come over here from
the other side of Brooklyn.
-
We feed most of the community here.
-
EXQUISITE EXPRESS AND SMALL BUSINESS
-
(Jim) so it's the best jerk chicken in all of Brooklyn?
- In the world!
-
There is a presumption that populism is a
manifestation of a rage felt by normal
-
people outside the political, economic
and media elites.
-
Chicken is always good. Jerk chicken man.
Beans and rice, and the white rice with
-
the little Catahoula as a side
- (Jim) Enjoy your chicken.
-
(Jim) What of the challenge of having a
business in America?
-
It is hard, hardest thing to do.
-
I wanted to gauge the temperature of small
businesses...
-
(Jim) Nice people working here, friendly.
- Yes.
-
...get a sense of what hardworking people were
feeling in the buildup to the election.
-
(Jim) I feel like I'm in a celebrity area
now. - Oh yeah (laughter)
-
Give it a try. It's excellent!
-
Not wrong.
-
Have a blessed one, alright?
-
It's the sauce. The chicken is tender,
nice and juicy.
-
Because you have so much tax
you have to pay.
-
Not an easy thing to do. The economy is
really tough right now.
-
Alright sweetie, be good.
-
(Jim) Where do your customers come from?
- Guyana, Trinidad, Barbados, England
-
New Zealand, Australia, Mexico. All over
the world they are from.
-
Then you have a lot of crazy people just
like Donald Trump. So anything can happen.
-
We're the creation of the American dream.
We want people to dream about coming to
-
America, thinking that they're gonna have
freedom and opportunity like everything's
-
thrown at them, but in reality, like you
said, you have to work for it.
-
Every race has an individual that has a
dream. It's just fortunate that America
-
is where you can seek it. You get the
opportunity to do whatever you want.
-
A PHILOSOPHY OF EVERYHING
-
American dream is a opportunity, for
people to be here and make themselves
-
profitable in this country. And whatever
car you want, you can go whatever place
-
you want. Restaurants that say
"Come here." I won't clean the dishes
-
'cause I was born here. I was born in this
house, you know what I'm tryin' to say?
-
They got hoods in Germany, they got dudes, tatted up,
smokin' weed and they're white.
-
You know what I'm tryin' to say?
Why does every president have to keep bein'
-
70, 80 years old? That's crazy. You know
what I'm tryin' to say? Like Michael Phelps,
-
he's a modern-day white person, you know
what I'm tryin' to say? Once they make up
-
for this error then it will be the
constitution of 2016, not 17 whatever, you
-
know what I'm tryin' to say? Horses will
never be replaced by cars, are you crazy?
-
And what she goin' "Nah, yo, don't do it yo,
don't listen to them, yo.
-
The shepherds look back, and go
let me shoot that sheep real quick!
-
He 'bout to fck up my whole fing plan...
-
We're gonna make you the president,
you know what I'm tryin' to say?
-
We're not listening to y'all no more.
Y'all fucking up America.
-
Y'all be fucking up the economy. You're fucking up mass shit.
And there's new ideas out here.
-
It's 2016. It's psychological. You know
what I'm tryin' to say?
-
I don't believe somebody took a rocket
ship up there. I don't believe that earth
-
is round ass ball. You know what I'm
tryin' to say? No one knows really where
-
this shit came from. You know what I'm
tryin' to say? You don't know this is earth.
-
This shit man. You don't know what this
is. You don't know, you never know.
-
Yo, I'm gonna tell you somethin'...
-
You don't know how the continents look,
you never been a million miles in the air.
-
You take Florida, you don't know which way
Florida is... who made the word plain?
-
I never did figure out exactly what James
was trying to say, ...
-
- That's what I'm tryin' to say.
...but somehow his kaleidoscopic mish-mash
-
of similes, metaphors, allegories and
analogies reflected the vastness of the
-
American experience and the challenge
before me of attempting to understand it.
-
THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
-
I'd been eagerly absorbing the colors and
musings of the New York street.
-
Hillary's got more experience and she is
the better candidate. Trump's not ready
-
for it. Simple.
-
Tonight, however, the election cycle would
truly kick off.
-
I'm in Harlem and have managed to wing a
ticket into the world famous Apollo Theater.
-
But this is a man who has called women
pigs, slobs and dogs.
-
I don't feel as if it's show business. I
think it's pretty serious.
-
And I'm very nervous about it.
-
I also have a much better temperament than
she has. (boo-ing)
-
Nature says: Act now or else.
-
Donald thinks that climate change is a
hoax, perpetrated by the Chinese. I think
-
it's real. (laughter)
-
Hillary mentioned that she is going to
make fighting global warming a priority.
-
Donald was one of the people who rooted
for the housing crisis. He said, back in
-
2006: Gee, I hope it does collapse, then I
can go in and buy some and make some money.
-
- Well it did collapse. Nine million people.
- That's called business.
-
You know what I think Trump is? He's like,
what do they call that? You know, when the
-
End comes, the rapture and all that? Tribulation?
He's like. - Satan incarnate.
-
- I'll be reducing taxes tremendously.
- You haven't paid any federal income tax.
-
That's going to be a job creator like we
haven't seen since Ronald Reagan.
-
It's going to be a beautiful thing to watch.
-
It's really unfortunate that he paints
such a dire, negative picture
-
of black communities in our country.
-
African American communities are being
decimated by crime.
-
- What are you gonna do with this?
- You can't make this stuff up. (laughs)
-
African Americans, Hispanics are living in
hell, because it's so dangerous.
-
You walk down the street, you get shot.
-
'Cause I think you were able to stand
taller, you know and I think Americans,
-
that's when color didn't even matter
anymore. It was just about: Wow, I'm so proud
-
to be an American. Now you wanna put your
head in the sand and be like: OK, so I
-
have my passport, and I'm hidin' it.
(laughs)
-
I wanna make America great again. We are a
nation that is seriously troubled. We're
-
losing our jobs, people are pouring into
our country.
-
♪ I know, I know, I know, I know, I know ♪
-
♪ Hey, I oughta leave young thing alone
But ain't no sunshine when she's gone ♪
-
THE STATE OF AMERICA
-
Watching the debate, we were witnessing a
clash of archetypes.
-
As an alpha male disruptor clashed with a
schooled female establishment figure.
-
Again race and immigration came to the
forefront. Trump's use of fear and
-
dramatization as an electioneering tactic
contrasted sharply with Clinton's reasoned
-
and studied inclusivity. America was being
presented with the starkest of choices
-
and again, I turned to the genius of the
streets to summarize the crossroads at
-
which she had arrived.
-
Hey Jim, what's goin' on? I'll see you in
about ten minutes, alright, bud?
-
Keep goin'. That makes it official.
(Jim laughs)
-
(Jim)
Don had lived the most colorful of lives.
-
From experiencing war in the US military...
-
(Don) The Berlin wall did not fall
because they used bad concrete.
-
The Berlin wall fell because of my team.
(laughing)
-
(Jim) ... to being a barber to the stars.
-
It isn´t a state - it is capital.
It is life.
-
I use this to cut through the bullshit.
-
I use this to cut rid of the past
of yesterday.
-
(Jim) Sensing my confusion
about the state of America,
-
he took me under his wing, and
-
in introducing me to the
inner life of Harlem
-
allowed me to experience it
not as an outsider
-
but from within its very heart.
-
It brings my intelligence down
a notch to answer
-
Trump´s, Donald Trump´s,
you know ... just semantics.
-
(Jim) My central take-away from the debate
was not about the issues themselves
-
but about the voices the candidates
were bringing to them.
-
You wanna know the state of America?
-
From my perspective:
-
It´s very volatile right now.
-
How do you feel about New York
switching up, flipping up, the way it has?
-
`Cause I feel a little way...
(Woman) It up-rooted!
-
You know why? Because we don't
stick together.
-
That´s just straight how it is.
-
We too busy like crabs in a barrel
tryin´to pull you down
-
'cause you make a dollar...
-
(Jim) Trump is using fears as a tactic
to divide people and to make
-
different groups afraid of one another.
-
I was curious if this fear was something
populism is inserting into society
-
or if I can see evidence with nascence
on the streets themselves.
-
We tend to protect the Donald Trumps
for some strange reason.
-
I´m ain't making it, so I´m hatin',
you know, dislikin' you,
-
I ain't gonna talk to street, like:
-
dislikin´you ´cause
you makin´some for yourself.
-
And I´m too busy being negative tryin´
like, how do you say,
-
tryin' to kick you down with me instead of
-
being united and we could come up together
but a lot of people don´t think like that.
-
How was he even closely in the runnings
for the highest political position of the world?
-
This is the state of mind of the world
right now. We are not looking for a good,
-
pious leader. We are looking for
the best cheater.
-
♪ (music) ♪
-
Yes... (whispering)
Who are you voting for?
-
Who are you voting for? - You are
a very cute Harlem dog, aren´t you?! Eh?!
-
(Jim) I´d been lucky enough
to feel the embrace
-
of the African-American community
in New York.
-
Ahead of me now lay Ohio -
where an old Italian American friend
-
Terry Roncagli had invited me
to stay in his basement.
-
And where I hoped to find the next piece
in the jigsaw of America.
-
This is what we do in
Northeast Ohio.
-
(shouting) Hold that Ti-ger! Look at him!
-
Classic Northeast Ohio clambake.
-
- Come on Jim you're our guest.
-
We got some chicken on the grill...
-
Look at those beautiful people there cheering!
-
My cart, I drive around the neighborhood
in the cart...
-
(singing) dede nenededede nene...
-
(man sitting) We, we don´t know him.
-
Rules of American Football...
-
Come on! Are you waitin´for a hammer
to break the rocks, motherfuckers?!
-
Hit them as hard as you can.
-
Go, get `em, Tigers!
-
As legal as you can.
-
Cheaters!
-
Put the football in the end-zone.
-
(shouting) There we go! Catch and go!
-
(laughing)
-
But it´s all about how hard you hit `em.
-
Hold that, Tiger!
(laughing)
-
(Jim) Shit, they lost!
(laughing) Oh, my god!
-
GOLF CART REVELATIONS
-
(funny, "panicked" cheering and laughter)
-
(Jim) Hell, is there no safety belts in here?
Feel like I'm
-
in a Ferrari!
-
(laughter)
-
(Jim, laughing in stress with pleasure):
I´m not feeling safe.
-
Let´s get a bottle of liquor.
-
(Jim) Watch out for the car!
-
I see the fricking cars, Jim!
-
(Jim) And this place is really...
It´s just like a Truman Show.
-
That´s for you.
-
(Jim, chug-a-lugged) Woah!
-
I'm really am a Trump-supporter
only because I want change.
-
But I feel like, in the end,
Hillary's gonna win.
-
I tell you what. Fricking Hillary is an
entitled politician, who has done nothing.
-
Trump is an entrepreneur who has
actually been a business man.
-
(cheering for joy) Yeah!
-
(Jim): I had been welcomed into the
rituals, culture and hospitality of Ohio
-
by Terry´s family and friends.
-
(cheer and laughter)
-
I was fascinated how Ohio´s famous
swing state status was reflected evenly
-
in this intimate friendship group.
-
Whereas Obama had won
handsomely twice in Ohio,
-
the polls in early October were
neck-and-neck between Trump and Clinton.
-
I wanted to dive deeper into
the heart and mind of Ohio,
-
and asked Terry, if he would drive me
to Cleveland.
-
(Terry) Walmart is the largest employer in Ohio,
-
and is also the largest employer
in the nation.
-
When I was a kid growing up, the largest
employers were the steel industry and
-
the auto-industry. Everyone had good
raises, good benefits, health care
-
and we don't have that any more.
-
(Jim) As Terry told me about the
changing face of Ohio,
-
I wondered about the social impact of
these disappearing industries
-
on normal people.
-
I felt that to understand the human effect
-
I needed to witness the reality
of the loss of manufacturing first hand.
-
- Hey bro!
- My name is Jim, what´s your name?
-
- I´m Stutz
-
It turned out that my guide would
once again appear
-
in the most unlikely of places.
-
THE NEW GILDED AGE
-
It´s the new Gilded Age.
None of these people have to pay tax.
-
Only the working people are taxed to
like a quarter of their income.
-
And we don't get much in return, because
the infrastructure's falling apart,
-
the school system's falling apart.
The health care is a joke.
-
The only thing that keeps this together is
that people are so mollified by
-
Walmart and the Kardashians that they
don't revolt. As long as they get,
-
as long as they can keep 500
TV channels going, everybody will just
-
just sit there "uhhh..." (imitates a
foolish sound), you know: transfixed.
-
(in a high-pitched voice) I'm gonna
deconstruct some pizza, son! (laughs)
-
(Jim) I hit it off with the brilliantly
named Stutz Bearcat.
-
By evening we were bonded by beer,
Buddhism and music.
-
Buddhism demands that you become
who you are.
-
That's the demand of Buddhism.
-
As you practice every day you become
what it is that you are.
-
And what it is, I need, I'm right now,
I'm a guy that needs a sip of beer.
-
(♪ plays a fast melody on the guitar ♪)
-
(Jim) Knowing I was hungry for insight
in to the state of America, the next days he
-
introduced me to some of the impacts of
the waning of the steel manufacturing
-
automobile industries in the Rust Belt.
-
Here there's always trillions and
trillions of dollars to go to war.
-
To bomb some unfortunate people that
happen to be walkin' around on high-grade crude.
-
There is always the money for that. There's never money for the infrastructure.
-
The city is collapsing.
-
And this is what we wind up with. You know,
the skeletons that we have to walk over.
-
The skeletons that the capitalist system
leaves behind.
-
OK, this is the old Richman Brothers
tailoring company, from probably
-
1920 to 1970, maybe even earlier. But this
is it, goes for blocks and blocks and
-
there are just thousands and thousands of
men that worked here and they fed their
-
families working in this place. And now
all these jobs are in China.
-
The people are chained to some fucking
desk where they have nets outside the
-
windows so they don´t jump out and kill
themselves. And all these jobs are in
-
China with people making, what?
30 cents an hour, 20 cents an hour now.
-
Are you Taiwanese?
-
- Me?
- Yeah.
-
- No!
- Where?
-
- Chinese!
- You´re kidding me. You are - he's lying.
-
- You are lying! (laughing)
He's lying.
-
♪ (soft guitar music in the background) ♪
-
- (Phrase in Chinese)
- No!
-
- He didn't really buy this building.
- Yeah, this is my building!
-
- I don't know English.
- What will you do with it?
-
- I, I don't - You call my son.
- How much money?
-
- I don't know.
(Jim) - He wants to buy it from you.
-
- He buys from you.
- No! - Whoah! - Ok.
-
- I got four dollars.
-
(Jim) You go again? - Really?
- Let's go!
-
You know, this has been vacant for 50 years.
-
Whoah!
-
What will you do here?
-
Knock down? (makes noise of destruction)
Knock down?
-
- No!
- No? - Businesses?
-
- Chinese business, American business,
both. - American business
-
I try to imagine, that how many people -
like, you can just picture
-
the racks of clothes and all the machines,
you know, hundreds of sewing machines,
-
hundreds of people working, you know,
three shifts. They went all day.
-
This place closed, hell,
when I was 16 or 17.
-
Matter of fact, I remember the jingle:
(sings, snapping his fingers for the rhythm):
-
♪ Richman Brothers, for your clothes.♪
-
That was the... (excited)
I remember that jingle!
-
I got this this at the, (laughter)
I bought this at the goodwill!
-
- No. (laughter)
- I got this at the Goodwill in Los Filos.
-
China stole all our jobs, so it's good
to see some Chinese people coming here
-
to bring some jobs back.
-
(laughing) - High Five!
-
I need to end up playing guitar and doing drugs
and drinking every night.
-
(everyone laughing)
-
- Is he the bodyguard?
- Big boss.
-
- Yeah, ah.
- (Jim) Big Boss.
-
- Yeah, Big Boss.
-
(Jim) And that was the Richman factory!
Wow!
-
♪ guitar playing ♪
-
(Jim) I felt lifted by this brilliant
interaction by an American raconteur and
-
a Chinese entrepreneur.
-
The Richman building was closed by its
American owners - Woolworth -
-
in the early 1990s.
-
Even if the boom-and-bust capitalism Stutz
described is responsible for its closure,
-
spaces like this were being easily
appropriated by Trump as dire
-
consequences of a globalized world.
-
Once again, I was confronted by a paradox:
-
It was, after all, the Chinese who were
at last planning to resurrect
-
this great icon of American manufacturing.
-
(night noises, whistling)
-
We need a change! We need a change,
the country is getting worse every single,
-
whoah, this is too close.
-
Years ago, everbody was - you didn´t have
to be a genius to get a job.
-
You could just go out, get a job
working in a factory.
-
Maybe, Mr Obama is part of the Muslim
faith, bringing America down with that.
-
And yet, you know, Hillary - no matter
what she does - I think it's feminist.
-
I think it's a problem with men have
with women.
-
They are attacking her on grounds that
they would never attack a white male on.
-
(Jim) It was nearly time to leave
Cleveland,
-
and my mind felt more frazzled than ever.
-
I decided, the only thing to do, was
to ask a man who'd sold over two million
-
hot dogs, to help make sense of things.
-
(woman, cheering) Jim!
-
(hot dog diner owner) Old fashioned hot dog.
-
(guest) This is a landmark place
in Cleveland, Ohio.
-
(hot dog diner owner)
We've been going 87 years.
-
(guest) I can't help but think with Trump,
so...
-
I feel like, right now,
that's the way I'm leaning.
-
(hot dog diner owner) I take voting serious.
And I'm leaning towards Trump right now.
-
He´s a guy who tells the truth.
He's a real jolt.
-
- 2.1 million
- 2.1 million - Hot dogs
-
(Jim) Who are you voting for?
-
(man) Trump, 'cause he is a businessman.
(Jim) So why is he going to help America?
-
(man) 'Cause he's going to make us rich.
-
Sports and politics, that's all people
talk around here.
-
No politician, no faith, you know.
-
He acts like a guy you can sit down have a
beer with in the bar.
-
But as I said, I didn't say I was gonna
vote for the guy.
-
(other man speaking) He appeals to the guys,
who are angry and I understand that...
-
(hot dog diner owner) I ain't sayin.
Yeah, he does appeal to me.
-
(man) You like that bombastic,
macho talk of it. But it´s talk.
-
(hot dog diner owner) What?
- 40 dogs.
-
40? Are you crazy? 40?
A couple hundred a day.
-
- Really, 200?
- Yeah!
-
- For you?
- For me alone, yeah.
-
(man off-screen) She served in the
White House. On paper, she is one of the
-
most qualified people we've had
in a long time.
-
(hot dog diner owner) I don´t know, like I said, I
really don´t know who I´m gonna vote for.
-
There are times I´m sayin´
I´m not even goin´to vote.
-
(woman off-screen) Imagine if you lined up
all those hot dogs one after the other,
-
we could go...?
-
(bar owner) It´d probably go to
the moon and back!
-
(laughter)
(man off screen) We could figure it out!
-
Look who supports him: Putin likes him, David Duke,
head of the Ku-Klux-Klan, likes him.
-
Why these people - our enemies - like him?
(pause) You know...?
-
(hot dog diner owner) David Duke's our enemy?
-
(guest) Yeah, David Duke, he's a neo-nazi!
-
(hot dog diner owner) I know who he is, I know exactly who he is.
-
(guest) He´s absolutely our enemy.
-
You know, we went to war against
the Nazis, you realize that?!
-
(Diner owner) I understand that!
-
Hey, in America, you're allowed
to disagree with people, man!
-
You are, yeah, I mean, the first thing
you do is agree to disagree!
-
- Good hot dogs, man.
- Right?
-
- Good hot dogs.
- Right? That´s what Americans are being,
-
are all about: agreeing to disagree.
-
Well, who am I voting for? I haven't
really made my mind up yet.
-
A LAMENT FOR KEITH LAMONT SCOTT
-
♪ (woman singing a capella,
crickets chirping in the background) ♪
-
♪ Hands up, hit the ground, face down,
they`re coming for you. ♪
-
♪ Comply, no attitude, face black and blue,
death is comin´for you. ♪
-
♪ Death is coming for you. ♪
-
♪ Death is coming for you. ♪
-
♪ Ridin´in the white and blue... ♪
-
(Jim) I´m arriving in Charlotte,
in North Carolina...
-
... in the aftermath of the killing of
Keith Lamont Scott.
-
♪ (Soft guitar picking and
ambient electronic music) ♪
-
The subsequent demonstrations turned
violent as the anger of shooting biased
-
by police towards black people
boiled over.
-
The Charlotte I discover is however, rather
in grief.
-
For the first time, talk of the election
is muted.
-
And yet the topic of race is thrust
front and center into the national debate.
-
I would just say that we haven't made much
progress from, you know, the early 1900s.
-
Because it's still, it seems like,
the value of black lives does not matter
-
to the majority of society here in America.
-
The police...may genuinely be afraid, but
then, what makes that racist is that
-
the fear is ingrained in them.
♪ (soft piano music raising) ♪
-
And you know, they cast this dream
about everyone's equal.
-
But, when it comes down to it, it goes by
what you show and not what you say.
-
Society tells them to be afraid of
the Black Man.
-
How do we not see it coming?
Or is this something we are not getting?
-
Society has made the Black Man out to be
something to be feared.
-
Like me personally I think we failed.
I feel like society is repeating itself...
-
... over and over and over.
Because all we do is nationalize.
-
And block our expansions into the cosmos
-
Which is why it´s so easy for them to
go out and execute. The system has been
-
designed: fear the black man, kill the
black man, exterminate the black man,
-
put the black man in prison.
-
It is those people that are angry.
And when I say they are angry, it´s that
-
majority of the white population that are
angry that things aren´t better for them.
-
So, how do they express that anger?
And some of them go back to those old ways,
-
if you will.
-
(Jim) Each conversation I had in Charlotte
seemed to reflect an experiential perception
-
of ongoing systemic racism.
♪ (soft guitar music) ♪
-
It made me think of the civil rights
movement, not in historical terms,
-
but as an ongoing struggle.
-
It felt tragic, that systemic racism had to be thrust
to the fore by Keith Lamont Scott´s death,
-
rather than as a creative discussion about
American identity. And its need to
-
reconcile itself with its history of
slavery, lynchings, and the murder of
-
civil rights´ activists.
-
If Barack Obama, the first black
President, arrived as the Great Unifier,
-
yet in such a polarized environment,
I wonder, what could the effect
-
of Trump be?
-
The Great Divider.
-
So just been researching about,
about, some basics about hurricane conditions...
-
(laughs with gallows humor) Oh, fuck!
-
(Driver) Well, how are you gettin´there?
(Jim) I´m renting a car. - Ok.
-
(Jim) Unless you wanna drive me...
(Driver laughs)
-
STORM PREPARATIONS
-
(Jim) Anthony. Hey, it's Jimmy here.
How you doing?
-
(driver) I would love to Jim,
but I don´t know.. .You know? (laughs)
-
(Jim laughing) Oh, man.
-
(Voice on the phone) We'll be dodging
stuff flyin´ through the air...
-
(Driver) I mean, I don´t wanna get caught
up in no tornado or hurricane.
-
(Voice on the phone): Hell yeah,
I do like a good whiskey too!
-
(Jim keeps laughing at himself desperately)
-
You know, I´m tellin' you, dem somethin',
Mother Nature ain´t nothin' to play with.
-
(Voice on phone) You know, when it gets
too bad Saturday, you and I'll both be
-
haulin' ass out of here soon.
-
(Jim) What the devil else do you need, when
you are preparing for a hurricane.
-
(Imitating Yoda) You are so fast.
Superman-onesie or bear-onesie?
-
In you go.
-
(Jim in deep voice) I´m your father.
-
Result. Mm.?
-
(noises from within supermarket,
cars outside, rain on car´s windshield)
-
(Jim) I feel like this election has lost
sight of people. And of how special
-
it is to be alive and sometimes ((cutting error?))
bases in our humanity.
-
When our politics isn´t serving our
humanity, then it has lost the plot. And,
-
I feel like that´s something that needs to
be addressed globally in our politics.
-
120 miles an hour winds will tear a
house down.
-
(pointing at a screen) The storm is here.
-
(Radio announcement): A tornado warning
has been issued for our area.
-
(Jim) At what point with the strength of
winds would you start having worries
-
structurly about the house?
-
- A hundred miles an hour.
- And it´s 105 at the moment. - Yes.
-
- When it starts hittin´a hundred mile an
hour, our asses are outta here! - Right.
-
If I see anything larger than a chicken flying' by,
we´re getting the hell outta here.
-
(laughs)
-
Trees break, stuff flying through the air,
that´ll kill ya if it hits ya.
-
There's your bed.
-
That´s like you being on a motorcycle
-
when you´re hitting a tree at a hundred
miles an hour.
-
You're gonna die.
-
(laughs) It is, what it is.
-
♪ (scary swirling sounds rising) ♪
-
(Jim) With the election storm in full
swing, it felt somehow fitting to await
-
(♪ change to energetic, rhythmic music ♪)
-
Hurricane Matthew with Antony´s indomitable
spirit, and charismatic hospitality.
-
A few days earlier, Hillary Clinton had
named Trump supporters:
-
a basket of deplorables.
-
It reflected the trend in the media
to confuse the antagonism of Trump´s
-
rhetoric, with the very real issues
many Americans were facing.
-
My grandfather worked in the mines. And my
brothers, my uncles, we made a living, we
-
had a family, we raised our children here.
You know, that´s how we did it.
-
And all of the sudden the government comes
here and says: We´re gonna put so many
-
regulations. Hillary Clinton got on
national TV and so did Obama:
-
If you´re in the coal business, you better
be looking for another job.
-
All of those thousands and thousands of
people out of work.
-
And, I mean, there are no other jobs.
-
We need to take care of our own,
take care of this country,
-
get our backbone back, our
infrastructure back, our jobs back.
-
You know people with pride.
You know, people used to have pride when
-
they went to work. We´ve manufactured,
we´ve made things, we've worked together in the
-
United States to achieve things. And now,
we don´t manufacture anything.
-
(Jim) We woke the next day to the news that
the eye of the hurricane had changed course.
-
And would make landfall at Myrtle Beach,
less than five miles away.
-
(Jim) So the actual eye is coming here?
-
Main surge in the eye of that storm
is going to be here 'bout 1:30 today.
-
Only eight miles from here a tornado set down
and tore up houses and property.
-
(Jim) Antony was noticeably more nervous
than the previous day. And yet,
-
in the spirit of true American adventurism,
insisted we head to Myrtle Beach,
-
to see for ourselves.
-
(Jim) So, where are we gonna go?
-
- Down towards North Myrtle Beach.
- Are you ready for this? - I just don´t know!
-
- The gas stations are closed.
But you know what? The liquor store is open.
-
(laughing)
The liquor!
-
Everything east of Oceanside and Highway
17 is mandatory evacuated,
-
because of the flooding.
-
- Okay.
- And the when the surge comes in
-
the ocean is gonna push all that water
which we already have flooding down there now.
-
(Jim) Wow. Gunning it down when this
fucking hurricane hits land.
-
I can't believe it's hitting here.
-
This is where the water comes in off
the ocean into the channel.
-
(Jim) Not a soul on the streets.
-
The ocean is straight in front of us.
- Okay. Woaaah, man they're gonna come down.
-
(screaming) We're at the ocean now!
-
Fuck me!
-
That's the ocean beginning to come in.
-
They said it's gonna get even worse...
- An hour or two.
-
(Jim) That's scary shit,
and I'm not staying here for long.
-
I'll tell you that much!
-
That is exactly where it's coming in.
-
But a surge could come in any time, yeah?
- Yeah, yeah.
-
They say it's supposed to happen any time
after 2.
-
(Jim) Wow! Yeah! It's coming through!
Wow, look at that!
-
We probably need to get out of here.
- I think we should get out.
-
Let's do it. I think, one big surge can
come in any time now.
-
Oh my god!
-
It's coming in with fury now.
-
I mean, c'mon. Jesus! Look at this.
It's coming in.
-
See the ocean...we're running...
right now we're running parallel.
-
different voices
(Jim) That's where a tornado
hit earlier.
-
Blew the roof clean off.
-
This whole area is prone to flooding.
Now that the water is breaching the dunes
-
off of the beach, this whole area is gonna...
it will flood.
-
(Jim) Let's not get trapped.
-
Look at how the roads flooded.
- Ah, okay. Wow.
-
This is our last chance to get out of here.
Literally.
-
I can't get through there.
- Oh my god!
-
But you got an exit route, do you? (exhales)
Yeah, that was scary!
-
Just seeing the road close like that, thinking
"Wow, can we not get out of here?
-
Do we need to get higher ground?"
- Well, sometimes I ask myself in life
-
"Why do I have to be with the one guy who
wants to be out in all of South Carolina
-
when the fucking eye of the storm is
hitting?"
-
You just gotta grow a set of nuts and go with it.
-
(both laughing)
-
Hey, it's one of lifes adventures.
-
(radio playing) It's very tough
getting around with hundreds
-
of areas of roads closed.
-
(Aftermath - Part 1)
There's another road blocked up there.
-
No way to get through and
down the 905, huh?
-
Rolling on the river!
-
Oh, shit!
-
As if by design to epochal events
struck both Clinton and Trump's campaigns
-
as Hurricane Matthew hit.
-
Oh, this is not feeling good at all.
-
Properly going through a lake.
-
On the one hand the access to
Hollywod tapes revealed
-
Trumps bragging about his sexual exploits
-
and predatory approach towards women.
-
On the other, Wikileaks began publishing
thousands of emails from Clinton's campaign.
-
The aftermath reflected not just
the perilous state both candidacies...
-
- The wind.
- You could hear trees snap.
-
But signified we were now within the heart
of a truly unprecedented presidential cycle.
-
It's terrifying.
-
Neither campaign would ride out
the aftermath
-
with the dignity of the people
they were set to govern.
-
I just thank God that that's all that was lost, cause it could have been
-
a whole lot worse
-
Kind of get the yard straight in the process.
-
So, that's Dad up there!
How you doing, Dad?
-
Are you alright?
-
Did you get out of the beach, okay?
- Yeah, I was alright.
-
That's a Dad doing a proper Dad's work!
- That's a true homeowner for you.
-
(music plays)
-
It is hard to describe how the feeling
changes as one drives south.
-
You notice it in the landscape.
-
Hear it in the accents.
-
But more so, in the caress of the air around you.
-
There is an ease of being as it envelops you.
-
As if you can breathe in a new way.
-
There is a sense of inversion when in
the South.
-
As if, in slowing, you can hear America's plurality
of voices with greater clarity.
-
And with it a recognition that to truly
understand America
-
each one must be heard.
-
Absorbed.
-
Interjected.
-
♪ I wanna live in a blue sky
I wanna live in a blue sky ♪
-
♪ I wanna live in a blue sky
I wanna live in a blue sky ♪
-
It's always about me.
-
People keep asking me
-
have we, have I ever seen anything
like this. And I keep saying "no".
-
THE VOICE OF THE BLUES
-
And I just hope to God that I don't see
another campaign like this one.
-
America can do better.
-
Than what we have seen here tonight.
-
This was just disgraceful.
-
Most people feel like, you know,
the rich stay rich.
-
The poor stay poor.
-
♪ (singing) Misery ♪
-
The middle class work to keep
from being poor.
-
♪ (singing) You can't have me no more.♪
-
But to make the rich richer.
-
People feel forgotten about.
-
♪(singing) I ain't got time.♪
-
We throw away more food on a daily basis
that could actually
-
probably feed the whole world.
-
Alabama
-
I feel like a lot of American politics all
depends on who you know
-
and what kind of money you have.
-
The thing is we're fucking choosing
between two fucking morons.
-
It would be so cool to have the first
female president.
-
- Absolutely.
- However, I find it really pathetic
-
that Hillary Clinton can barely beat Trump.
-
(What of The American Dream?)
-
Half of us work our asses off just
to make ends meet.
-
That American dream is something that
you saw in the 50's.
-
- Yes!
- You can't tell me shit's not rigged!
-
Something's coming. Change is coming.
-
Whether it's gonna be good or bad.
-
But change is coming.
I know people like us who work
-
our asses of are tired of the people
like who run our country.
-
(Louisiana)
-
New Orleans is in a constant state of decay.
-
It's the lowest place in America
but it is a beautiful type of decay.
-
It's a fascinating type of decay because
the leaves are turning yellow.
-
There is always something bright green
coming right up with it.
-
Louisiana is teeming with life
and really has a longing for life.
-
A BEAUTIFUL STATE OF DECAY
-
It's everywhere. And it's beautiful.
-
You know, everybody has to
watch what you say
-
to be politically correct.
-
This just started the last two years.
It's like "oh my god."
-
Like the statues. You know the statues
have been in New Orleans for
-
I don't even know how many years.
-
What I discovered in the South
-
was not a sense of wanting to ignore
or forget history.
-
But a feeling that it had come to terms
with its own past.
-
Look but they want to tear down a statue though.
-
They couldn't. It was hard find a racist in New Orleans.
-
They tried to start all that stuff but we're all been married to each other.
-
We don't have colors here.
-
We have shades.
-
We, New Orleans, have been
mixed for so many years.
-
Oh my god.
-
They try to start all that racial stuff.
That stuff doesn't work with us.
-
Never has. Never will.
-
It seemed that the South felt itself
appropriated by the so-called culture wars,
-
CULTURE WARS
-
embodied by the removal of
confederate statues.
-
How many years? And now all of sudden
they're racist
-
or somebody is being offended by a statue.
Give me a freaking break.
-
The politicization of culture was
dredging up old divisions
-
of racial tension,
-
which the South felt it was organically
moving on further.
-
As a nation I think
it's coming together.
-
Still gonna take some time, but...
everything does.
-
And I believe in that.
We all gonna survive.
-
I'm tired of America's self hatred.
-
I can prove to you very quickly that
we're not a racist country.
-
We elected a black president twice.
-
Black comprised a little less than 13%
of the population.
-
music playing
-
New forms of music are not born in
fancy neighborhoods.
-
Or where people get a lot of money from
the government.
-
They're born on the streets and on the sidewalk.
A little messy sometimes.
-
They're born in places like this.
-
We're the wealthiest nation in the world.
-
And we're below like the highest ranks
like out of the top ten
-
of how many categories?
-
music playing
-
I think that this neigborhood is gonna
become just another wealthy neighborhood.
-
A museum.
-
What's destroying the country: only 10%
of the people vote!
-
You're willing to kill and die for
the right to vote and won't do it.
-
And you're talking about a revolution?
-
Why don't you using the revolution you got?
-
music playing
-
TEXAS
- I think that this is going to be
-
the debate where Trump is going to go all out.
-
He's gonna lash out.
He's gonna say whatever he feels like.
-
He's gonna grab the debate by the pussy.
-
That's what's gonna happen.
That's what I think.
-
THE FINAL US PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
-
(Trump) We we have some bad hombres here
and we're gonna get them all out
-
No one's hating. Anyone, anywhere right here.
-
Like no one has any anger or hate towards them.
-
We're just good people all having a good time.
-
(Trump) She wants to open borders. People
are gonna pour into our country.
-
I'm not gonna let someone project on me
what my country is.
-
When I'm sitting here, having a beer.
You know, having the best time of my life.
-
(Clinton) You're not up to doing the job.
crowd cheering
-
It's hard to believe that the race
is actually so close.
-
When you get to watch the debate and
see what he has to say
-
that is acutally a lot of it is nonsense.
-
I want it. That's why I got it on my back
in the beginning.
-
It's because I give a shit about the
people around me.
-
People matter.
-
And you know building a wall is bullshit.
-
I literally, like when you ask me for a
sip of my beer.
-
I literally got emotional because like bro
like we just met.
-
You know like I'm a giving heart.
That's who I am.
-
Like we just met. You know like you feel
comfortable enough with me.
-
You know, no hate. Nothing like, you know,
60 years, you know 60, 50 years ago that shit would've never happened.
-
I would had to take a drink in a fountain.
You know, back outside
-
or some shit like that.
-
You know, so. That's how far
we've come.
-
And that's, things like this,
is what makes this country great, man.
-
America was continuing to reveal its
different faces to me.
-
Texas had voted Republican in every
election since 1980.
-
And yet, despite the polarity with the debate
-
it showed me a version of an America
-
at peace with itself.
-
Republican, Democrat sat side by side,
-
and for a brief moment I felt a healthy
conversational
-
and interactive approach to politics.
-
Ahead of me, however, lay Austin
-
where the reality of the economic divides
-
would present themselves in stark colors
-
and if there's one thing a populist leader
understands
-
it's how to exacerbate existing tensions
-
and use them for political gain.
-
woman screaming
-
Those of sometimes strangers fighting
one another.
-
over something that they may stepped
on each other's foot...
-
THE GOSPEL OF THE SIDEWALK
-
in the club, while they gettin' drunk or something..
-
You know something that don't make any
sense.
-
Or this lady decided she wanna go over
here with this gentleman
-
and that gentleman didn't think she should.
-
They never really fightin' over anything that
matters.
-
(Jim) What matters, Linda?
-
What matters is life.
-
And preservin' it.
-
And learnin' and teachin' one another
how to survive with each other.
-
We don't know how to do that.
-
You know.
-
And racism -
that needs to be dead and gone.
-
Those that started it is dead and gone.
-
Let it die with them. You know what I'm
sayin'?
-
We are a whole new generation and we
got new generations to come.
-
What are we teaching them?
How to stay in the past?
-
It was in my meeting with Linda
that I realized
-
my grappling with America had somehow
gone in the wrong place.
-
Linda's words, "what matters is life,
-
preserving it"
-
struck at my core.
-
Like most I'd been pulled into the drama,
-
the divisions,
-
the conflicting ideas in the spectacle.
-
Sitting by her side
-
and within her gentleness and kindness
-
I was introduced to a new perspective
of America.
-
That night, I watch from my van as two
old friends shared a joint
-
and prepared for another night on the streets.
-
I felt a sense of humility before the grace
-
with which they seemed to bear their lot in
in life.
-
And I felt a sense of shame
-
that for all my wrestling with America
-
that I not had the courage to reach as hard.
-
I vowed that I would play a new hand
in the game.
-
From this point, I wanted to tell the story
-
of the untold election.
-
Oh, it's a rush.
It's a big rush.
-
The wildest woman you ever had in your life.
-
I mean crazy.
-
It's not, are you're gonna get hurt,
it's when.
-
shouting
Now, now, now!
-
Broken ribs.
-
I broke my femur like six times.
-
Got more screws right there.
-
I broke it comin' off a bull.
-
I got slammed down face first in the dirt.
-
I got screws right here.
-
Every muscle in my body aches.
-
Got surgery on my eye.
-
I do this because I love it.
-
Broke my shoulder.
-
Bein' able to ride a bull?
Like being on top of the world.
-
Right here, across this one.
-
I was enjoying my first rodeo.
-
It seemed on the surface
-
a quintessential expression of American
energy, brawn, and gumption.
-
And yet, in attempting to peel away
the layers of this seemingly most
-
southern traditions, I found my own
impressions once again
-
subverted.
-
The rodeo is wonderfully multicultural, in both
its origin and its expression
-
of modern culture.
-
Yet articulates a conservatism way beyond
debating, villainization, and populous rhetoric.
-
It's not an American sport.
-
I mean, the original vaqueros in Mexico,
-
they got rodeo started and I mean
everybody just went from there.
-
It's Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, America.
It is a international sport.
-
It is a conservatism of family values,
-
love of nature. Values that are in no way at
odds with liberal sentiment
-
about the environment and
looking after one another
-
(Jim) Is this one of your lot?
- It's my son.
-
We're thankful that we spend a lot of time
doing it
-
and exercising, running and bein' the best
we can be.
-
So, we're blessed because of that.
-
Cowboy life.
Country life.
-
Hunting, fishing, riding, everything.
laughs
-
When you go beyond the politics
-
you find these things are just
an expression
-
of one another.
-
In the rodeo, I found an America
-
overcoming itself.
-
It pointed to the artificiality in the
divides of the Right and the Left.
-
And the illusion of how our politics
characterizes us.
-
As if from two separate species.
-
The way I feel about America now is that
-
we need to put all the racial differences
aside,
-
all the business aspects aside,
-
and get back to being a faith-driven country.
-
We need to go back to understanding that
-
and become a country as one
-
you know, through faith.
-
It doesn't matter what religion you are.
-
We just need to come together as we're
all come from the same cloth.
-
And just, we need to put our differences aside
-
and work together and that's the
bottom line.
-
Never givin' up.
-
Never let an injury back you down.
-
There's a number of things.
-
It's more of in your heart.
-
It's not how you look,
-
how you talk,
-
how you dress.
-
It's more of all in your heart.
-
But where it is in the moment a
hell of a shape.
-
You know.
Need to be something done about it.
-
So, for one thing they need
to vote for Trump.
-
And give him a shot.
-
And since he's a business man then maybe
he can get a bunch of stuff done.
-
And if he didn't get up there and corrupted
get corrupted like the rest of them.
-
You gotta get this country turned around.
-
You can't keep going into debt.
-
Because if they do, they're gonna fold
the money system as we know it today.
-
We're 20 trillion dollars in debt
and all of this is been since Reagan
-
went in office.
-
My sign out front says it all.
-
No matter who wins this election we're
gonna lose here.
-
In the way the election is going,
they're not talking about us.
-
You know, Trump is talking
about the little man.
-
Small businesses all over America
are the same way.
-
But the Democrats aren't talking about the
little man.
-
They're taxing us out of existence.
-
I would always like to believe that
-
everybody is gonna be better in the end.
-
But it's gonna take an awful lot of us
workin' really hard to do that.
-
And that's what we're lacking in America
now.
-
People working really hard at something.
-
I think they want it too easily. They think
that somehow that the government
-
is gonna promise that they don't have
to do anything for that.
-
It's like an effortless thing and all of the sudden
everyone is happy.
-
That is not reality.
-
Not reality at all.
-
(New Mexico)
-
American and Mexican border is
right up there.
-
El Paso used to be Mexico.
-
A lot of California used to be Mexico.
-
Majority of people are supporting him
-
of Anglo-Saxon people.
-
THE WALL OF WHITE SUPREMACY
-
Who over the last 40 years
-
they seen that the erosion of white supremacy.
-
What's gonna happen if he does win,
-
and if that wall is built.
-
These people, a lot of these people are
already in
-
they're barely making it now as it is.
-
They don't like what's happening.
They don't like it.
-
They feel like they're being a minority
now. They're not a majority like they
-
used to be at one time. They're
the minority now. And they don't like it.
-
This is a good place if you want to
start in life all over again, there it is,
-
you know? But you have to want it.
-
You have to actually say to yourself
"I don't wanna be here" you know?
-
Because this is the bottom of the barrel
almost
-
I want to prove the old people they can
do a lot of things.
-
For me it was almost a greater power was
directing me. And to go through that I had
-
to go through hell in order to learn
what I was being trained for.
-
I don't know if that makes any sense to
you at all.
-
But that's, that's what I live and that's
what I believe.
-
I would've never ended up taking care of
homeless people if I didn't...
-
wasn't immersed in it myself.
-
(Jim) My experiences in Austin had shown
me that there is no true understanding
-
of America without confronting the
epdidemic of homelessnes.
-
If, as Gandhi mused, a nation's health can
be judged by how it treats its
-
weakest member. Then how does one grapple
with this epidemic in the
-
world's richest country?
Perhaps we're all complicit in some way.
-
We demonize the homeless, make them
outcasts, deprive them of their humanity
-
and settle our conciousness with a few
dollars chucked into a hat once a month.
-
In the Opportunity Center in El Paso I
came across what can only be described as
-
twin forms of heroism. Both in the work of
those choosing to wrestle with the plight of
-
those most in need. But even more so, the
power of spirit of those
-
trying to claw themselves out from
destitution itself.
-
I like your accent! Don't say where you're
from, I'm gonna guess. Australia!
-
Close-ish. (laughter) Actually from
Scotland!
-
Scotland! Ah, I didn't think of that!
-
-What you think I'm talkin'? Chicken.
- I'm chicken juice.
-
-Your a what?
- I'm chicken!
-
- Yeah, you're chicken shit!
- Yeah. I'm chicken shit! (laughs)
-
If it wasn't for them we'd be in trouble.
-
- What are you making here?
- Rosaries!
-
- Okay! Wow you make it so quickly, Reso!
- Yes
-
- Wow! Beautiful work my friend!
Thank you so much!
-
- This is a present for you!
- Oh no!
-
- It's a present for you. Yes, sir.
- Oh – does it get it...
-
oh my god, I will wear it
with so much pride!
-
(Jim) What struck me in the Opportunity
Center was the thin red line
-
between the circumstances of one life
and the next.
-
In America it feels the safety net between
falling through the social order
-
is far thinner than in Europe.
And I was aghast at how a missed bill,
-
a freak injury, a lost job or an
unexpected illness could prove so
-
fundamentally life-changing.
-
Being 54 years old with no insurance and a
...a pretty serious medical condition
-
it's...it's very scary and depressing.
-
Then I had an illness where
I ended up in the hospital
-
and my hospital stay ate
all of the money that I had
-
and I had no place to go
after I was hospitalized.
-
And that's how I ended up
here.
-
(Jim) It made me realize that keeping
homeless people at a remove
-
is not just an act of cowardice
in society at large,
-
but also an expression
of the protective layer
-
the wealthier class
build around themselves.
-
To shield themselves from the gritty
potential in life.
-
See, I help everybody 'cause I know how hard
things are, you know?
-
There are hard times right here. Everybody's broke or you know,
They want to smoke a cigarette, food, whatever I can. I share everything I got.
-
Well, I think that there is alot of people
who are not willing
-
to hire homeless people, not willing
to give them a chance.
-
But I do believe that there is still
good people in America.
-
(Jim) The election had become a noise of
clashing ideas and archetypes.
-
A mirage of shock, fantasy and drama.
-
I felt at last I had arrived at
a more substantial reality.
-
That revealed itself
in the simple way a human being suffers.
-
I'm here in a lot of ways but...
-
what brought me here was...
-
trying to find my... myself.
-
You know, there's a lot of people just
getting richer and richer and richer
-
while uh, more and more people from
middle class below are just going way way
-
down below the poverty line.
-
(Jim) Seen in this way, a measure of
society became how it treated those
-
who had fallen through its safety net.
-
As such I felt the Opportunity Center
-
offered not just opportunity to those
lives it was helping rebuild -
-
but also to society itself.
- Making money, eating too much,
-
drinking too much. These are wrong
things. The human,
-
they don't want to understand how to live
better.
-
How do we create an atmosphere that's
friendly and safe and caring of the people
-
that are rejected by the people in El Paso
and everywhere else?
-
- You're right! (laughter)
- Jose, put it there. Oh crap! (laughter)
-
The cowboy life is the only life.
-
My dad was once a – he was first,
last and always a cowman.
-
The cattle industry is still going.
-
It's had a lot of heartaches and heartbreaks,
having to
-
sell down your herd or sell it off
and then start over again.
-
And there's an old story about the guy,
-
you know, some rancher said, "What would
you do if you had a million dollars?"
-
"I reckon I'd just stay in
the cattle business 'til it's all gone."
-
This old stove is what keeps
my house warm all winter.
-
High integrity and hard-working
and do the best you can
-
and as my nephew said, when my dad
passed on three years ago...
-
He was ninety years old.
And he was such an amazing man!
-
And he always tried to make
things better.
-
(Jim) The transformative effects of
globalization on traditional ways of life
-
is often presented in
curiously statistical ways.
-
The deeper I traveled into America,
-
the more I witnessed longing
for ways of life
-
irrevocably changed through modernity.
-
Within this yearning
was a discernible pain,
-
not just in the difficulty
of rural life...
-
It doesn't matter how hard it gets -
you just keep pushing through.
-
You push through, you push through.
Perseverance.
-
Perseverance, doing the best you can.
-
Those are the things
that I learned from my folks.
-
(Jim) But moreover, an acute sense of
personal and human loss.
-
THE HIDDEN INPUTS OF A GLOBALIZED WORLD
-
And our town was booming!
-
We had businesses that were everywhere!
-
I love my town. I love it
with all my heart!
-
I hate to see it just going downhill.
-
Everyday something closes
and somebody moves.
-
And you never see that one person
again that you knew. That it so sad.
-
In the last – what is it, three years –
-
we've had I don't know
how many overdoses.
-
Heroine overdoses.
Of young kids!
-
It's almost like it's the devil's playground.
-
THE DEVILS PLAYGROUND
(& ITS SAINTS)
-
Smoking a bowl! (laughter)
-
(??) (01:08:39) one of the most beautiful
places you've ever been.
-
One of the most radical places. Back in the
day, it was something else!
-
I'm an aboriginal of this country and hello!
I'm barely being talked about
-
- when it comes to race.
- If I thought that Trump would be
-
in there I'd put a bullet in his head if I
had the opportunity.
-
They talk about all these other nationalities
that came from everywhere as a minority.
-
- They never say American Indians.
- I don't trust the man. I think he's
-
a Hitler.
- I wish I could just ask the whole
-
United States about this. Everbody,
wherever they came from is a descendant
-
from somewhere else.
-
I think he's the worst of all the worst!
(music playing)
-
COLORADO
-
- Yeah these roads are really beginning
to get icy up here in the mountains.
-
Heading towards Silverton.
-
You know this race is going
down to the wire. You've got Trump making
-
this crazy late surge. Two weeks ago his
campaign was dead in the water and
-
suddenly the head of the FBI released
these emails and Clinton's campaign is
-
just being absolutely taken to pieces
three days to the election! Is it gonna
-
stabilize or is Trump's rampantness
gonna come back?
-
Wow, it's really getting snowy. I really
-
want to get to Silverton and find somewhere
to stay 'cause this isn't cool at all.
-
To tell someone like myself, a small
business owner, uhm when he didn't pay
-
taxes for all those years, to say,
"Well, I didn't pay taxes
-
because I'm smart." You know and then there's
someone like me that doesn't make that much money
-
and has to pay a certain amount of taxes
every year?
-
I mean to me it's an insult to say
something like that.
-
In other parts of the country there's
tension between the political views.
-
Have you found any of that in Silverton?
-
-Oh lots of people here.
- Oh there's lots of it! People are stealing
-
signs, they get in people's face and
argue with them - it's pretty ugly.
-
I think that there's a big section of
America that uhm, thinks that America's
-
going in the wrong direction because we're
becoming more liberal on social issues.
-
And it scares them.
- People've runined the country and
-
whether you agree with it or not it's your
opinion but it's in trouble right now.
-
And terrorist groups are growing way
faster than they should be allowed to.
-
We used to deal with that so that they
wouldn't cause the world harm -
-
that's not happening anymore.
-
We hear there's some serious crime going
on in Silverton. (laughter)
-
If there's a bad character that came to
town I'll hear it from six different people
-
before the day's out.
-
- Big time crime in these parts!
- Big time in this area! (laughter)
-
Is this how you managed to come across me
after five minutes of being in town?
-
That's right! Someone said "I don't know,
some cat with an accent.
-
You better check him out!" (laughter)
- They come in that way or if they come
-
in that way, we can make sure we lock the
town down!
-
- I'm glad I'm not getting arrested!
- (laughter) Eh, not yet!
-
(Jim) I'd been lucky enough to be welcomed
into the fold by
-
Silverton's law enforcement community.
Once again I was struck by the apparent
-
contradiction between America's internal
divisions...
-
Political period of the last couple of
years has been knock down, drag out
-
- politics here lately.
- They're the ones that everybody of course
-
- looks up to or listens to or sees.
- (Jim) And its consistent capacity
-
to show welcome and hospitality to a
stranger.
-
Guys, you know we don't understand the
tea and strumpets thing or whatever you
-
- guys say, but... (laughter)
- Showing the American spirit in the redneck
-
- trucks there? (laughter)
-
(Jim) I hoped to find out more about small
community life...
-
- Well when the shit hits the fan we all
together and do what needs to get done.
-
(Jim)... and the role of guns in America.
- This is a kalashnikov.
-
It says, "kalashnikov this way,"
a little play on, walk this way!
-
So I'm glad to see people coming and
caring enough to find out what America
-
is like. Not what the American government
is like. What America is like!
-
Well I think first of all we kid ourselves
to believe that we're in a true democracy
-
anymore. We're in what I consider a system of
legalized bribery. I mean when over
-
ninety percent of every decision in the
House and Senate is in direct proportion to
-
the money that put that person in the
office
-
- that's not democracy. That's bribery.
- Some care about it from the heart rather
-
than from the power structure. And our
politicians are no different than
-
politicians any place else.
It's a power struggle.
-
We're ready for some major...major reforms
that need to happen soon and maybe such a
-
circus-like election as this will kind of
bring that about.
-
Most of us have, whether it's one side
of the political spectrum or the other,
-
all have America at heart. And want
to make it what it's supposed to be.
-
And so, anyway. (chuckles)
-
- I'm doin' good man, how are you?
- Man, good to see you!
-
(Jim) The British will always view the
American addiction to guns with a
-
degree of bemused curiosity and
quizzical bafflement.
-
- So Bruce, I hope that's not a Scottish guy
you've got on the target over there!
-
- Make my day, punk!
- That's the one. (laughter)
-
I will point it at Steve's truck.
'Cause I don't like Steve very much.
-
(Jim) And yet, for better or worse,
firearms are engrained into the American
-
conciousness. The right to own a gun is
synonymous for many US citizens with the
-
notion of freedon itself. Regardless of my
personal feelings about deadly weapons, I was
-
impressed at the discipline and diligence
of the Silverton police force.
-
Here, you or anybody else, you would call
me and I will do everything in my power
-
at risk to myself to be there at your
darkest hour.
-
- You going hot? (shot)
- Fucking hell that's got a kick!
-
- You look like Doc Holiday in that hat!
-
UTAH
-
It is the day before the elections!
Nearly at Salt Lake City. Just stopped
-
rolling to seeing some amazing countryside!
So beautiful! This country just takes
-
the breath away at every turn. Even in this
moment when it's going so berzerk
-
so crazy! You know what, this election
became for me not about Donald Trump
-
or Hillary Clinton. It's become about the
American people, it's become about these
-
mavericks I've come to know and learn
and love. I'm just hoping that,
-
you know there's a sense of redemption
and healing and coming together after
-
this election. Because all the people I've
met, every single one of them deserves it.
-
Something is in the air and I just hope
that it's a moment which can lead to great
-
self-reflection and like the true spirit
of America to come through, that I have come across
-
and so much of this upon
-
this journey. Come on America!
Inspire us all again like only you can!
-
ELECTION DAY
-
Okay, it's Election Day! Let's go see what's
gonna happen!
-
Who are you supporting today? Wanting
a female president, aren't you?
-
- Who are you voting for?
- I have no idea and I won't know until
-
- I get in there...
- Oh, I'm just terrified.
-
- ...and think long and hard about who
I hate the least.
-
How'd you feel if you wake up and he's got
the nuclear codes tomorrow?
-
- Uhm (laughs) yeah...
- I think Trump has such an ego that he'll
-
- try really hard to do a good job.
- You know, the reason why I'm deciding when I
-
get there is 'cause uhm it's been
impossible for me to pick a side so to speak.
-
You're still undecided! You're two yards
away from the polling booth and you still
-
- don't know.
- Confusion, anxiety. (laughter)
-
It's two capitalists running against
each other, who are both billionaires.
-
Make Americanos great again! (laughter)
-
They say get back to a better time but
they never say what time that is. And they
-
never said what made it better back then.
-
So the sun is going down over Salt Lake
City soon
-
and when it comes up again,
America will have a new president.
-
ELECTION NIGHT
-
Clinton in the lead in Florida!
-
The election is already seasawing from
Left to Right ...
-
(radio) Trump has a lead!
- I mean it's just so dramatic and Clinton
-
has gone ahead. It's seasawing, it's sea-
sawing. I mean I'm not an American man and
-
I'm totally on a knife edge.
Looking quite good at the moment in
-
Florida for Clinton. (Yes, yes,yes!)
No one knows where it's going.
-
Trump is winning in Florida, but look at
that: Clinton ahead in Texas!
-
My youngest daughter is uh, going to
school at the University,
-
Montana State University. Election night-
the party that she's putting together for
-
her friends and her dorm is a R.I.P
America Night. A Rest In Peace America
-
- Night.
- I'm calling this "Erection Day"- we're
-
- screwed either way!
- Hillary gets the flu and she can't be on
-
- election? Really? I have a vagina! And I
have kids to take care of. And if you
-
really can't hold it together, with a
vagina! I'm seriously, I'm a Buddhist.
-
To the Trump supporters out there: find
the primary sources for yourself and uh
-
- discover your own path to knowledge.
- One thing, what she do?
-
- If you had the chance to go back in time...
- Okay, ask me!
-
- and end the life of one Adolf Hitler...
- And?
-
- ...would you do so?
- No.
-
- Why not? It's an interesting line of inquiry.
- Okay, okay, why would you?
-
- Because I believe that given a chance to
oppose forces against humanity I would
-
- do so. For Hitler or for Trump.
- Wait, wait. Guess what? You weren't
-
- there and you can't change history.
- And that's unfortunate, but having
-
- visited the polls and I have done what I
feel is my American duty.
-
- But you can't change history, son.
- And I hope I can change history going
-
- forward tonight. I've tried my best to
do so and we will see what the outcome is.
-
- Mind you, you did. You tried to change
history. I'm proud of you for trying to
-
- make a change.
- And I, you.
-
- Thank you, I didn't vote. I'm Buddhist,
I don't need to change history. It'll
-
- happen with or without me.
- That's your choice.
-
- It is my choice.
- Have a good night.
-
- I am. I'm having a blessed evening,
thank you. (laughter)
-
(radio) Ohio shifting Republican as well
at the moment.
-
It changed so much. Trump is up across the
board.
-
(radio) Donald Trump will carry a huge
prize, Texas...
-
He's up in Florida, he's up in Ohio, he's
up in North Carolina...
-
- Hillary's got it in the bag.
- Look how red it is! It's just terrifying!
-
-We're working west, as soon as we get to
the west coast...
-
I'm so stressed out by your American bloody
election, that I had to come and get some
-
cigarettes!
-
- Still fucking stressful! (laughter)
(radio) The coast hasn't voted. The entire
-
half of the liberal constituency has not
voted. - It's rigged!
-
- Virgina just won! For Hillary Clinton!
- I feel good, a ittle nervous.
-
- Ohio was lost to Democrats!
- Ohio is gone, it has gone to Trump.
-
- How many electorial votes go to Ohio?
- I have no idea!
-
- Me fucking neither! (laughter)
- I'm disappointed that the American people
-
- are so racist oriented.
- If Michigan and Wisconsin go to Trump
-
- it's over. (cheering)
- We just won California!
-
- Californiaaaaa!
-
But Trump won Idaho.
-
Hillary just passed Donald Trump.
-
If we lose
Wisconsin, Michigan, it's over.
-
So I'm dashing across town
-
and we do not know which way it is going.
-
Trump has just won North Carolina.
-
It's official.
-
His message has connected with people.
-
The world is changing.
The world is changing.
-
I'm nervous because Ohio
is normally a good predictor,
-
and they totally failed us.
-
If Trump wins, there will be
a Republican House, Republican Senate,
-
a Republican president who's likely
to put in multiple Supreme Court Justices.
-
This is Roe v. Wade going away.
-
But know all of you...
-
You're too high, like aw, dude...
We are foe today.
-
This is traditional marriage
being reinstated likely.
-
This is not just undoing what Obama did.
-
This is undoing decades of
stuff that we all care deeply about.
-
That's what all of you did...
-
and this is how all of you
got to where you are now.
-
This is a really, really shitty moment.
-
If this is going the way
it looks like it's gonna go.
-
I think the polls are still close,
too close to call.
-
Barring the miraculous,
I think Trump is our president,
-
which says a remarkable
thing about democracy.
-
Which is that we get what we get
and we have to acknowledge
-
the reality of what our populous is
and what it wants.
-
We come together when
we're at the hardest times,
-
you know.
Evolution happens at the precipice.
-
It's, it's like a nightmare.
-
I'm here for the girls. That's me.
-
All the beautiful things get torn apart.
-
I just think I underestimated
how misogynistic and xenophobic
-
and terrible so much of America is.
-
There are people
putting children to bed tonight
-
and they're afraid of breakfast.
-
And I'm scared for all of my friends
and anybody who's different.
-
I have Muslim friends who are texting me
tonight saying, "Should I leave the country?"
-
Our president is someone who
fears difference in all shapes and sizes.
-
This was a whitelash.
-
It's nearly 11 o'clock.
-
It hasn't been announced yet.
-
But we don't want to feel
that someone has been elected...
-
by throwing away some of us.
-
The atmosphere has
died in the Democratic Convention.
-
A solid 21% chance.
- It's not nothing.
-
We're pretty much Germany
in the 1940's right now.
-
Those parellels are uncanny.
-
Hope does last!
-
He's loud. He says he can
single-handedly fix the problems
-
by eliminating minorities.
-
Sounds like, you know. A certain somebody.
-
I think a Trump presidency will...
-
We're fucked 'cause of Trump!
-
end acceptance of diversity.
-
I'm on my own in a cinema
meant to be a party for the presidency.
-
Donald Trump about to take the stage...
-
Depressed, buddy.
-
... introduce to you the President Elect
of the United States of America,
-
Donald Trump.
-
Now it is all hitting me in the chest.
-
Kind of like a bad porno.
-
Thank you.
Thank you very much everybody.
-
Sorry to keep you waiting.
Complicated business.
-
Complicated business.
-
I've just received a call
from Secretary Clinton...
-
The victory of Trump is
part of a global movement.
-
There's no doubt of a shifting sense,
the West is changing.
-
Some people might argue
that there is some type of positive...
-
because if so many people
want change then it has to happen.
-
But what does that change mean
when it is characterized by xenophobia,
-
by division, by pointing fingers,
by hostility, by anger, by racisms?
-
It's hard to see where it's going.
-
People need to come together more.
I think.
-
The evil is taking over with
a lot of things here, in these days.
-
I don't even know what town I'm in.
-
There are protests breaking out across
the country.
-
The rhetoric of his
campaign can't be undone.
-
Look at history where
this language leads to.
-
I'm on the way up to Oakland tonight.
-
There's been protests
breaking out across the US.
-
I'm just heading towards this protest
-
to see what the
feeling is here in California.
-
CALIFORNIA
-
We are going up against
a corrupt adversary.
-
And we can't match his corruption.
-
Because if we match his corruption,
he will take us out easily.
-
How we feeling tonight?
(cheering)
-
What we have to do is make sure
-
that we are fighting against
the corruption within ourselves
-
while we're fighting against
corruption in this society.
-
To accept this is to
accept a repeat of history.
-
There will be no "I never knew."
-
The Republicans win
the House, the Senate,
-
the fucking judicial court.
-
The Republicans haven't won that
much since 1928 through the fucking history.
-
I really do feel we have to come from love.
-
Fuckers!
-
You cannot fucking be non-violent
to somebody who is violent towards you.
-
Martin Luther King fucking finds that out
when he got his ass assasinated.
-
We have to march...
-
...and strike...
-
...like we never have.
-
This division has been going on
since the entire history of this country.
-
It's only now there's
such a mass uprising against it.
-
We did kill 95% of
the native people that lived here.
-
Of like what, 12 million?
-
Fucking indiginous land.
-
You fucking asshole!
-
We're not divided,
we can unite against something like
-
corporatism or the government
and that is truly dangerous.
-
Death to the idea that
love can solve racism.
-
Death to the idea that
love can solve capitalism.
-
Death to the idea
that love trumps hate.
-
It's about resistance,
it's about organized resistance.
-
These corporations back
every war that we see.
-
They back everything that is corrupt.
-
They don't back anything good.
-
(shouting)
-
They're fucking arresting people!
That's fucking violent!
-
Them fucking taking us to jail,
it's fucking violent.
-
I believe that it's necessary
-
to resist the rise of fascism
in violent ways, yeah.
-
We can never be divided!
-
Maybe in a state like Nazi Germany.
I don't know.
-
Because how else would
you have countered that?
-
When he spoke against Mexicans,
-
when he spoke against queer folks,
-
I am a gay man
and I'm at a point where
-
I can't really articulate
the fears I have for this country.
-
Fuck who?
Fuck Trump!
-
I'm a member of the LGBTQ community
-
and I feel a lot better
going to sleep at night
-
knowing that I have not, like, practiced,
like if I say fuck Donald Trump,
-
that's for me very hateful.
-
We gotta do this together, man.
There's no other way.
-
You gotta eradicate
this shit with love, alright?
-
The original Constitution mentions slavery,
-
and slavery, 2/3 a person.
-
A black man was 2/3 a person. What?
-
You can't expect people who've been
oppressed for so many fucking centuries
-
to just be peaceful up until now.
-
Do you think we just
gonna be holding hands
-
and marching
and singing all the fucking time?
-
The bitch is a dump. Fuck that [n-word] Trump!
-
The next thing is to stand up
-
and fight for everything
that this country is for.
-
And I want you to remember
-
that we got four long years
of opposing this motherfucker.
-
They didn't allow women to vote.
-
Last night I got teargassed.
-
The Constitution needs to evolve.
-
We don't want no special treatment.
-
We want what the Constitution
says that we deserve.
-
But what we know is,
-
the Constitution wasn't written
to give us what we deserve.
-
People protest and they want to stand there
like little fucking bitches with some firearms and shit.
-
But, nah. They won't to do it alone.
Fuck that.
-
And you look at history,
-
you look at when Mussolini
and Hitler were elected,
-
and you say,
-
how did the whole world
sit there and watch this happen?
-
It is a fucking shame
that he got elected into office.
-
And it's a fucking disgrace,
-
and a slap in the face
of every American out here.
-
We always talk about love,
-
but if we keep doing
all these so called violent protests,
-
that's not love.
-
We talk about love so much,
-
but in all our protests,
that's not love.
-
First they came for the Jews,
-
and then they came for this
and then they came for that.
-
And I was quiet.
-
And then they came for me,
-
but there was
nobody left to stand up.
-
I believe that Donald Trump's presidency
is the rise of facism in the United States.
-
If we look at history and
we look at the rise of facism in the 30s,
-
everything that happened then
is happening now.
-
I want to see Swiss cheese buildings
-
that these rich people own
and let them send a message to them-
-
- What's a Swiss cheese building?
-
A Swiss cheese building.
-
A building that's been bombed,
that's been shot through.
-
- So you want to see
this stuff getting torn down?
-
Why not?
-
It makes me very afraid.
-
It makes me afraid
-
for the people I love
who I know best.
-
But it makes me very afraid
for the people I don't know
-
who are my family
because I'm of the family, Human.
-
THE POETRY OF THE PACIFIC
-
I've reached the Pacific Ocean.
-
I reflect on my broken half move
through America's cities,
-
valleys, dirt roads, outhouses, motels,
homeless shelters, rodeos,
-
swamps and highways.
-
My heart is pregnant with its colours,
its kindness, its faces,
-
its mesmeric beauty.
-
My mind races wearily,
consumed with its madness,
-
its contradictions,
paradoxes, and parallels.
-
I'm anxious and worried
-
that in juxtaposing
so many voices with one another,
-
if I've done injustice to
the poetry of each individual I've met.
-
Did I lessen their voices
-
by being too open
to life in all its vastness?
-
Should I have set
more limiting parameters,
-
tried to explore one issue
rather than grapple with its totality?
-
And yet, as I look out over the Pacific,
-
my heart gives in to the
contraction and dilation of the ocean.
-
Its ineffability, its raw, violent power,
-
and its capacity for glacial stillness.
-
This ocean is America.
-
And it is too vast to consume,
too multiplex to comprehend.
-
It's only in giving into it,
into accepting its nature,
-
that I can be one with it.
-
It's a broken quilt, a violent patchwork.
-
But it is this very fragmantation
that makes me love it so intensely.
-
NEW YORK
-
My political road movie
shot on a shoestring budget is at its end.
-
♪ Everything's got too much for me ♪
-
♪ How I would love to join the free... ♪
(Children of the Moonlight continues)
-
The presidency,
the incoming administration is kind of
-
like a, it's like a hurricane just
offshore that's about to make landfall.
-
America is more conflicted than ever.
-
Its past evanescent,
its future uncertain.
-
I'd been for a short time
a part of its dream
-
and in doing so,
have witnessed its nightmares.
-
There is an idea that is America,
-
and yet it forever wrestles
with what that idea is.
-
Yet nonetheless,
its history remains in its own hands.
-
It is Democracy itself
-
which is celebrated
in the manifold voices I've heard.
-
And it's those same voices
which will protect that Democracy.
-
Even as it is challenged and threatened
-
in ways it could never have imagined.
-
America remains the emblem
of our longing and our dreaming.
-
My conversation with it has been
one of the great experiences of my life.
-
And now I give back
the gift it gave to me.
-
I am hopeful that it might, in it,
-
remember its own beauty, and recognize
-
that its diversity and
abundance drives its special energy.
-
Most of all,
-
I hope it will renew
its conversation with itself.
-
Not just with a lighter tone,
-
but a willingness, once again, to listen.
-
(Children of the Moonlight playing)
-
Actually, I've never really
listened to the Beatles...
-
Welcome to your first morning in Ohio!
-
He didn't feel insulted either
and I kept going, oh bullshit!
-
He's like,
that's a cool dude.
-
I like small government.
-
You just want to wear a t-shirt that say
The Beatles on them and seem cool.
-
You're lame.
- This is not going in the documentary!
-
Í'm not having anything
said against the Beatles!
-
Let me ask a question.
-
How much we getting paid today?
-
I wish I was getting paid.
-
And I get nights like tonight.
-
You get some random Scottish flirt
that just comes in and gets...
-
This is really good!
-
It does the job, man, I tell you.
-
Guaranteed to withstand 200 mph winds.
You're in luck.
-
I'm not afraid of Trump.
-
He's too fucking stupid
to fuck things up that badly.
-
They cheated, Jim!
-
You motherfuckers have a good night.
-
God bless.
- You too.