Review: In polemical ‘Hillary’s America,’ D’Souza rakes Clinton over long-cooled coals
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Considering it’s from the same individual responsible for “2016: Obama’s America,” it should come as no surprise that Dinesh D’Souza’s “Hillary’s America” is another shrewdly timed, heavy-handed agenda in the guise of a truth-seeking, nonfiction film.
But just like the avidly right-wing filmmaker’s 2012 effort, which places second only to Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” among the all-time top-grossing political documentaries, his latest polemic doesn’t even qualify as effectively executed propaganda.
Subtitled “The Secret History of the Democratic Party,” the rambling, overwrought diatribe begins with D’Souza’s efforts to clear his own name — he was sentenced to eight months in a halfway house plus community service after being convicted on a campaign finance violation — contending that he was unfairly targeted by the subject of his prior “investigation.”
D’Souza then points an accusing finger at liberals as a whole, branding Democrats as the true racist party of record, illustrating his claims with cheesy historical re-creations.
Although D’Souza doesn’t even get around to tackling the woman of (dis)honor until well past the one-hour mark, he makes up for lost time by dragging out all the usual Clinton-era suspects, from Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones to Whitewater.
Providing the only unifying through-line is the constant on-screen presence of D’Souza himself, who gives a certain candidate a run for his money when it comes to self-congratulatory smugness. D’Souza might be preaching to the choir, but at least this voter recruitment tool could have aspired to something more challenging than an amateurishly slapped-together rehash.
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‘Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party’
MPAA rating: PG-13, for some violence, thematic elements and smoking
Running time: 1 hour, 46 minutes
Playing: In general release
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