Fahrenheit 2010

Oliver Stone has a new movie out called South of the Border, which allegedly depicts President Hugo Chavez ^[1]of Venezuela as some sort of humanitarian. Chavez has invested money in the poor areas of Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, and even the United States, but are his motives altruistic? More importantly what has he done for Venezuela?

Some liberal political activists really believe in Chavez. Famous pop-heretics like Sean Penn have come out publicly to support Chavez, without much understanding of how real Venezuelans feel about their leader and what they have been through.

The strong opinions people have of Chavez and socialism usually translate into the opinions they have of Obama and where he is taking America. Maybe Obama and the federal government are taking necessary pragmatic steps to revive American prosperity where the private sector has failed. Maybe they are making a huge mistake. And I am not even going to debate what socialism is, and whether it is good or bad. Whatever your opinion, I just think the new Democratic administration is perfectly vulnerable to a potential Michael Moore-like fake-umentary. However, no talented filmmakers seem to be poised to jump on this box office bang opportunity.

There are books out there that dismantle the President, but they are written by stuffy old men like Dick Morris (I actually really like Dick Morris). And did I mention they were books? You know that Stone or Moore won’t take a crack at the President. So I ask, where is the young filmmaker looking to make a name for himself by exploiting the natural turmoil and imperfections of the presidency? Like we did with W., let’s get personal.

Actually, I am glad there isn’t such a movie (yet). I do not have a great opinion of Obama, but I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. I am trying to be loyal. My bigger beef is with the people who are so blindly in love with him.

I don’t even wish to see artists like Moore or Stone go away. I really like Fahrenheit 911 and W. I did not agree with much of the context either film presented, but I did find them both intriguing. The concept of how much people really just hate Bush fascinates me. I just wish Moore’s and Stone’s films did not commend losers and maniacs like Chavez and Castro. And I wish Americans were not so simple as to form their political opinions based on these jaded documentaries.

Now would someone please go out and make a Fahrenheit 2010?