Stoutor
It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.
Afouotos
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
Nayan Gough
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
Ozzy2000
When evaluating documentaries that focus a relatively small group of Ugly ultra right wing and conservative groups like this in the USA you must consider the following. The United States of America with its population of 270 million and its complex history as an aspiring democracy and its hopes and desires to uphold Human Rights that it has its failings and downside. It is of course expected that extreme right wing groups and ultra –conservative groups exist in sizable numbers however relative to the size of its population they are very small and isolated . On a per capita basis Europe, Britain and even Australia have similar right wing groups in fact on a per-capta basis the actual size of Neo-Nazi groups in Australia is actually higher than in the United States of America. It is for the above reasons that it is unjustifiable to demean and vilify the American people and their level of debate in Educated American Society by very fraudulently and deceptively presenting this ultra-right wing bunch of psychopaths as being representative of American Society. By doing so Greenstreet, deliberately chose small and isolated groups at opposite ends of the spectrum to construct an image of America that is an outrageous and deliberate sensationalist lie. This film is clearly designed to inflame and pander to the views of people who harbor this subconscious and morbid hate the American people and way of life under the guise of spurist fashionable and cliché idealist left wing ideology. This film was made for profit not for furthering the truth about American Society and the Human condition. Greenstreet can make documentaries that focus on ultra right wing conspiracies, the Military Industrial complex but fail miserably to present an intelligent and balanced factual debate let alone alternative solutions to the failings of a vibrant democracy. Movie Show is exposed as Anti American by its support for this trash. SENSATIONALISM at its worst anti -USA garbage shameful.
mark_decew
"This Divided State" examines the controversy that erupted on the campus of Utah Valley State College when leaders of the student government invited incendiary documentarian Michael Moore to appear on campus in the closing days of the 2004 presidential election. The filmmakers jump into the fray capturing the protests, pickets, posturing, and pablum generated on both sides of what amounts to a fairly petty squabble among partisan ideologues and semiprofessional hotheads.The drama unfolds fairly slowly, interviewing both key participants and curious bystanders. Conservative radio host Sean Hannity is recruited during the squabbling for political balance. Other characters include a young Michael Moore look-a-like, a Michael Moore namesake, and a Moore's Pizzaria manager. A good deal of padding footage is included to stretch the story out to a feature length runtime. The production values are extremely uneven as it was necessary to cull material from several videographers to build a coherent through line.I admired the filmmaker's ability to capture the story's principals at key occasions in the drama and fairly neutral point of view balancing between the battling sides. Almost everyone in this film comes off looking like simple-minded weaklings or obnoxious blow-hards. The UVSC faculty members are stereotypical liberal academicians and the students overly idealistic adolescents. In the end it all seems much ado about nothing.
faiakes
The American heartland of tolerance proves to be tolerant only to its own beliefs.What should have been just another election time political talk turned to be an insight into the democratic values of USA.The producers take their time to build up our knowledge of the students and the community involved, and it is a good thing. This moves the focus away from Moore and into the events that transpired before (and after) his arrival. Good time is spent on the students themselves and their views, as well as the major figure representing the conservative residents. Both sides get a fair balance.What comes out of the film is how shockingly low are the democratic values many US citizens hold. In a country which prides itself about being an example of democracy, a leader of the "Free World" there is just as much intolerance as anywhere else. The part where the conservative personality gives a talk is unpleasant to watch for any supporter of democracy.This documentary should strike the average US American as a wake up call about how complacent democratic citizens can be when it comes to their political ideas. Everyone likes to thing they are upstanding democratic citizens, until M.Moore comes to town! The true test of democracy is being willing to listen to points of view opposite to your own and not outright dismiss them as wrong or even evil. This little film painfully depicts that (at least) the Utah community failed this test miserably.On the other hand I'm sure that many Utah citizens didn't have a problem with M.Moore coming to town. Unfortunately either the film fails to represent them or I am mistaken and the film is right in giving the impression that most of Utah agreed with the extreme undemocratic views expressed from their prominent(?) citizen.Is this the nature of politics? To be divisive? Would M.Moore speaking in a New York University have made such a show? Unlikely. Then I guess it must have been something about this Utah community. That could have been an area that the documentary could have explored. In doing so it would have be digging deeper into the heart of politics (and rational thought at that). Stil, even with its more narrow scope this little gem does very well. Very well indeed.
cookchantel
I live in Utah and sadly, this film portrays the typical mindset here. We tend to be xenophobic, intolerant, and hateful of anything different yet it is cloaked in a message of "love thy neighbor." This film does a wonderful job of portraying the all-too-common view that Utahns are unable to handle outside ideas and any type of diversity. In looking at the anger spewing out of the mouths of putative Christians, in particular Mr. Bryson, I am reminded of the looks of white southerners in the 50's when the schools were about to be integrated. The seething fury and irrationalism of these people is shown all too well by the filmmaker. I recommend seeing this excellent film and if it makes you avoid visiting or moving to Utah (especially the Provo/Orem area south of Salt Lake City) it will have served a good purpose.
