Upon my view of this documentary, I had no expectations. As the narration began I felt that I was in much of the same position as those being interviewed. I was for Obama in 2008 so I watched thoroughly all the way through. One thing I couldn't help but notice is this theme in which the narrator did the most to try and remove the wool from over the eyes of black people in America and why they think the way they think. That wool specifically being the democratic party and their ties to racism. Ironically instead of doing so it seems to be more of a desperate attempt to pull the wool over their eyes and accuse the democratic party today as still the democratic party of racism. It rejects the notion that there was anything good done for black people by the democratic party and notes that when there was a great event in the history of black people, e.g. the civil rights act, that it was the Republican senate that pushed that law into being. It leaves no ground left for any credit for the Democrats that were in power and continues the narrative that it is the Republican party that has stepped out of the way of black people and allowed them the initiatives and resources to compete in America as they should be able to today.
The problem that I see is that much of what is stated is anecdotal through out the documentary. They speak of events, but they never really give you any substance to track yourself and do your own research. It relies on the interviewees to fulfill the theme that black people are used in politics today, but the problem is all of the interviewees are well known right wing pundits, personalities, and/or voices. There are no independent voices, no democratic voices to help corroborate the ideas of this substance. In fact the entirety of the end of the movie pulls together the net that reveals itself as cast to pull you away from your ideals that the Democrats could ever have your best interests in mind. It does nothing more than speak about President Trump in a way that highlights how he has been the best president for conservatives in history, and tries to further this idea by applying it specifically to the black population. What Uncle Tom succeeds in doing is bulldozing over any possibilities that the rivals of the Republican party are of any use to black people. It uses inflammatory terms to rile up the audience by asserting that legislation by the democrats has been a sort of slavery 2.0, and then paints a picture that black people who are called uncle toms, have seen the light, and would like to welcome these lost, ignorant, and too dumb for their good black people out of their sleep and into the Republican party where they have belonged all along.
The problem with this documentary is that it's a bait and switch. Its incomplete in its efforts to contrast because it relies solely on the voices of people who are all adversaries of the party to which they are accusing. It in itself becomes a trial by those in the Republican party to prosecute the Democrats instead of painting a full picture that would, at the minimum include Democrats and Independents, and at maximum have documents or evidence that would clearly show that what they are spreading is sound truth. It's a documentary with little documentation to be reviewed which is a shame because considering the name and the impact to which the original book it was derived from(Uncle Tom's Cabin) I was really hoping there was going to be much more than the emptiness I felt afterwards and have ultimately come to characterize this documentary as being.
The problem that I see is that much of what is stated is anecdotal through out the documentary. They speak of events, but they never really give you any substance to track yourself and do your own research. It relies on the interviewees to fulfill the theme that black people are used in politics today, but the problem is all of the interviewees are well known right wing pundits, personalities, and/or voices. There are no independent voices, no democratic voices to help corroborate the ideas of this substance. In fact the entirety of the end of the movie pulls together the net that reveals itself as cast to pull you away from your ideals that the Democrats could ever have your best interests in mind. It does nothing more than speak about President Trump in a way that highlights how he has been the best president for conservatives in history, and tries to further this idea by applying it specifically to the black population. What Uncle Tom succeeds in doing is bulldozing over any possibilities that the rivals of the Republican party are of any use to black people. It uses inflammatory terms to rile up the audience by asserting that legislation by the democrats has been a sort of slavery 2.0, and then paints a picture that black people who are called uncle toms, have seen the light, and would like to welcome these lost, ignorant, and too dumb for their good black people out of their sleep and into the Republican party where they have belonged all along.
The problem with this documentary is that it's a bait and switch. Its incomplete in its efforts to contrast because it relies solely on the voices of people who are all adversaries of the party to which they are accusing. It in itself becomes a trial by those in the Republican party to prosecute the Democrats instead of painting a full picture that would, at the minimum include Democrats and Independents, and at maximum have documents or evidence that would clearly show that what they are spreading is sound truth. It's a documentary with little documentation to be reviewed which is a shame because considering the name and the impact to which the original book it was derived from(Uncle Tom's Cabin) I was really hoping there was going to be much more than the emptiness I felt afterwards and have ultimately come to characterize this documentary as being.