Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party

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Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Written by
  • Dinesh D'Souza
  • Bruce Schooley
Produced by
Quality Flix
Release date
  • July 15, 2016 (2016-07-15) (United States)
Running time
106 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5 million[2]
Box office$13.1 million[3]

Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party is a 2016 American political documentary film about 2016 American presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and a critique of the Democratic Party. The film is written and directed by conservative political commentator Dinesh D'Souza and Bruce Schooley.[2] The film had a limited release on July 15, 2016, before a wide release on July 22, 2016, and accompanies a book by D'Souza by the same name.[4][5]

The film was the top-grossing political documentary of 2016, grossing $13 million against a $5 million budget.[6][7] It was heavily panned by critics; review aggregation website Metacritic declared it the worst-received film of 2016. It was nominated for five Golden Raspberry Awards, and won four, including Worst Picture (a first for a documentary film), as well as Worst Director and Worst Actor for D'Souza.[8][5]

Background

Dinesh D'Souza, a conservative author and commentator who co-directed Hillary's America, is known for also directing 2016: Obama's America (2012), which criticized incumbent president Barack Obama during the 2012 presidential election,[9] and America: Imagine the World Without Her (2014) arguing against liberal critiques of its history, including the theft of Native American and Mexican lands, black slavery, contemporary foreign policy, and its capitalist system.[10]

Synopsis

The film begins with scenes of D'Souza at the halfway house where he spent time due to his conviction for making an illegal political contribution. The film then switches to examining and criticizing the history of the Democratic Party, from Andrew Jackson to the present day. D'Souza is portrayed going into a basement archive of the DNC Headquarters where he reveals secrets of the party's history.

The film offers an interpretation of the origins of the Democratic Party in a brief outline, then examines the racism of one of its founders, President Andrew Jackson. It goes on to describe how Jackson and the Democratic Party passed legislation that brutally expelled

fugitive slave laws
.

The film then argues the Democratic Party opposed the

United States Constitution. The film argues that the Democratic Party had close ties to the Ku Klux Klan in the 19th and 20th centuries, including the accusation that Democratic President Woodrow Wilson supported the KKK and racial segregation, opposed anti-lynching legislation, manipulated New Deal legislation in the 1930s to keep African Americans from benefiting, and opposed civil rights
legislation of the 1960s.

The film also examines the validity of the common argument made by leaders of the Democratic Party that the parties "switched positions", with the Democratic Party becoming progressive and Southern racists becoming Republicans, which it rebuts by arguing that fewer than 1 percent of Southern Democrats who opposed civil rights legislation changed parties.

External videos
video icon The Star-Spangled Banner excerpt on
YouTube[11]

The film examines the record of the Democratic Party in its use of

Revolutionary War imagery.[11][16][17][18]

In a post-credits scene, Dinesh D'Souza appears in front of a classroom, where he is "teaching immigrants English as a second language as a form of community service," saying "So how will you know when you have become an American? You'll know, when you become a Republican", followed by an applause by the students in the classroom.[19]

Interviews

D'Souza presents various interviews in the film, including:

better source needed
]

Release

Hillary's America had a limited release on July 15, 2016, playing in three theaters in Dallas, Houston, and Phoenix, and making a box office of $77,500 (~$96,486 in 2023).[21] The success of the film during that period was described as "massively frontloaded" because it made about $41,000 on the first day.[21] On July 22, 2016, Hillary's America got a nationwide expansion,[21][22] entering 1,217 theaters.[3] This date fell between the end of the 2016 Republican National Convention and the beginning of the 2016 Democratic National Convention.[9] On its opening weekend, the film's box office was $3.7 million, in the top ten that weekend.[9][23] On July 23, 2016, Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers released the music video "Stand Up and Say So (Hillary's America)", a song they wrote and performed for the film.[24]

Reception

Box office

Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party became the highest grossing documentary of 2016 and the 20th-highest domestically of all-time, grossing $13.1 million (~$16.3 million in 2023) at the box office.[6] In its opening weekend of wide release it grossed $4 million, finishing 9th at the box office.[3]

Critical response

On review aggregator

Chaos, United Passions and Death of a Nation (also directed by D'Souza)) tied with a score of 1.[27]

Alan Zilberman's Washington Post review called the film "too incoherent for argument" and boring, its only redeeming moments being unintentional comedy,[12] while Glenn Kenny wrote in The New York Times that it was a masterpiece if the criterion for evaluation were "the extent to which it communicates the personality and character of its director."[28]

In a review for

dog whistle that's blown at a pitch so high that only the most ignorant or paranoid of people are capable of hearing it."[29] Writing in The Guardian, Jordan Hoffman described the film as "paranoid" and "so demented that no synopsis could do it justice" and D'Souza as a "simpleton". He goes on to say that the basis of the film, the "purposely misunderstood fact" that "the Republicans used to be the good guys when it came to the issue of racial equality in America" is as surprising a discovery as the Soviet Union being an ally of the United States in World War II because: "things change, and labels are semantics, and the concepts that bind a political party then might not be the same ones that bind them now."[30] Dann Gire of the Boston Herald called the film "an embarrassment to propaganda films", full of "mind-boggling conspiracy theories" and "fried thoughts and lapses of basic journalistic practices".[31]

Alex Shephard of The New Republic said: "Because he is a very dumb man, D'Souza doesn't even make a credible argument that Bill and Hillary are corrupt, even though in many ways it's low-hanging fruit. Instead, like every fringe weirdo who comes after the Clintons does, he overreaches and invents an absurd conspiracy ... It's not enough for, say, the Clinton Foundation to have taken money from, say, Saudi Arabia—instead, Clinton is literally presented as selling America to foreign countries. Why? D'Souza never explains."[32]

River Cities' Reader's Mike Schulz commented that "while there was the expected applause at the end, it also came right after a particularly adventurous, quite captivating performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and, y'know, congregated crowds are supposed to applaud the National Anthem...It was actually the movie itself that was all but foaming at the mouth."[33]

Accolades

Award Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Golden Raspberry Awards
(37th) 		Worst Picture Gerald R. Molen Won [34][35]
Worst Director
Dinesh D'Souza
and Bruce Schooley 		Won
Worst Screenplay Nominated
Worst Actor Dinesh D'Souza (as himself) Won
Worst Actress The "Actress" Who Played Hillary Clinton (Rebekah Turner)[36][37] Won

In response to the Golden Raspberry Awards nominations, D'Souza stated that he was "actually quite honored" and called the nominations "petty revenge" in response to Trump's election and that "the film might have played an important role in the election."[38] After learning his film had won four of its five nominations, D'Souza recorded a short video accepting the awards, where he stated that winning because the voters were upset for Clinton's defeat was positive because "my audience loves the fact that you hate me".[35]

Other

On July 23, 2016, Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee (and eventual victor) against Clinton, called on supporters to see the film.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Hillary's America: The Secret of the Democratic Party (12)". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  2. ^ a b Johnson, Ted (March 22, 2016). "Coming Soon to Campaign Season: The Anti-Hillary Movie". Variety. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party at Box Office Mojo
  4. ^ D'Souza, Dinesh (July 22, 2016). "Dinesh D'Souza: The secret history of the Democratic Party". Fox News. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-1621573470
    .
  6. ^ a b "Box Office: Dinesh D'Souza's 'Hillary's America' Becomes Top-Grossing Doc of 2016". The Hollywood Reporter. July 27, 2016.
  7. ^ "Documentary Political". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  8. ^ "CNN/FB Live Coverage Razzie 37th Nominees!". CNN. January 23, 2017. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  9. ^ a b c d Bryan, Alexander (July 24, 2016). "'Hillary's America' Documentary Cracks Top 10 at Box Office". USA Today. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
  10. ^ "Synopsis". Americaintheaters.com. Archived from the original on February 26, 2015. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  11. ^ a b Strange, John (July 19, 2016). "Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic party – A Review By John Strange". Selig Film News. Archived from the original on June 26, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  12. ^ a b Zilberman, Alan (July 21, 2016). "'Hillary's America' Travels Through Time and Finds the Democratic Party to Blame". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
  13. ^ a b Fund, John (July 18, 2016). "Hillary's America — A Two-by-Four Bashing Democrats". National Review. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  14. ^ Moore, Roger (July 27, 2016). "Movie Review — Disingenuous Dinesh is back with "Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party"". Roger's Movie Nation. Archived from the original on August 10, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  15. ^ Rizov, Vadim (July 30, 2018). ""Hitler was liberal" is just one insight offered by Dinesh D'Souza's fraudulent Death Of A Nation". The A.V. Club. G/O Media. Archived from the original on June 26, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  16. ^ Rizov, Vadim (July 21, 2016). "Hillary's America completes the lunatic political trilogy that 2016 began". The A.V. Club. G/O Media. Archived from the original on November 9, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  17. ^ Moore, Louisa (July 28, 2016). ""Hillary's America"". Screen Zealots. Archived from the original on August 10, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  18. ^ Dunbar, Mark (August 8, 2016). "Film Review: Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party". The Humanist. American Humanist Association. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  19. ^ "'Hillary's America' Review: Dinesh D'Souza Indulges in More Confirmation Bias". The Wrap. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  20. IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  21. ^ a b c Mendelson, Scott. "Box Office: 'Hillary's America' And 'Cafe Society' Do Big Limited Release Business". Forbes. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  22. ^ "D'Souza Offers a Look Inside Hillary's America". Trunews.com. July 20, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  23. ^ Brevet, Brad (July 24, 2016). "'Star Trek Beyond' Debuts at #1, 'Lights Out' Opens Strong and 'Ice Age 5' Bombs". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
  24. ^ Bond, Raul (July 23, 2016). "Dinesh D'Souza Drops Music Video for 'Hillary's America' Doc Ahead of the DNC". Billboard. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  25. ^ "Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  26. Fandom, Inc.
    Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  27. ^ "Best Movies of All Time". Metacritic. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
  28. ^ Kenny, Glenn (July 21, 2016). "Review: In 'Hillary's America,' Dinesh D'Souza Warns of a Plan to 'Steal' the Country". The New York Times. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  29. ^ Ehrlich, David (July 19, 2016). "Hillary's America Review: New Dinesh D'Souza Doc Is Impossibly Stupid". IndieWire. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  30. ^ Hoffman, Jordan (July 18, 2016). "Hillary's America Review – Dinesh D'Souza Says: Beware Racist Democrat Super-Villains". The Guardian. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  31. ^ Gire, Dann (July 21, 2016). "Filmmaker juggles mind-boggling conspiracy theories in 'Hillary's America'". Boston Herald. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  32. ISSN 0028-6583
    . Retrieved August 19, 2021.
  33. ^ Schulz, Mike (July 24, 2016). "Demons, Dems, Doze: "Lights Out," "Star Trek Beyond," "Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party," and "Ice Age: Collision Course"". River Cities' Reader. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  34. ^ "Razzie Awards 2017: Full list of nominations led by 'Zoolander 2'". Goldderby. January 23, 2017. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  35. ^ a b "Razzies: Hillary's America and Batman v Superman tie in worst-film awards". The Guardian. February 25, 2017. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  36. ^ Mikaela Krantz also played a younger Hillary Clinton in the film, but only Rebekah Turner was on the official list of nominees.
  37. ^ Derschowitz, Jessica (January 23, 2017). "'Zoolander No. 2,' 'Batman v Superman' Lead 2017 Razzies Nominations". EW.com. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  38. ^ Alexander, Bryan (January 23, 2017). "'Hillary's America' Director D'Souza Calls 5 Razzie Noms 'Petty Revenge'". USA Today. Retrieved January 24, 2017.

External links

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