Dinesh D’Souza rides the zeitgeist like a California surfer.
The pundit’s “2000 Mules” tackled election integrity worries tied to the 2020 election. Last year’s “Police State” described how America resembles a Soviet-style nation.
Now, he’s exploring not just Donald Trump’s final fight for the White House but the powers bent on taking him down.
“Vindicating Trump” is as rah-rah as you might expect from D’Souza. This time, he expands his use of scripted scenes with surprisingly funny results.
Said elements prove sharper than expected, but they aren’t the snug fit the narrative demands.
The docudrama fuses traditional talking head segments with fictional tales of Democrats in action. D’Souza interviews Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law and RNC co-chair.
Together, they break down the real estate mogul’s appeal and plans for a second term.
We’re also deposited behind enemy lines at Democratic headquarters. This fictional element expands on a narrative device D’Souza deployed in “Police State.” Once again, actor Nick Searcy plays aggressively against type as a take-no-prisoners political operative.
The film also gets face time with the 78-year-old leader.
President Trump offers insight into his political aspirations as well as his views on the first attempt on his life. How tragic that we now need to qualify assassination attempts by number.
Filmmaker @DineshDSouza’s new movie, “Vindicating Trump,” opens in theaters Friday.
Dinesh spoke with me about the film, which he calls his most urgent and important project yet.@DailySignal just released our interview. Watch or read the transcript: https://t.co/dQP88LxO2b pic.twitter.com/Dz7zWOZMJY
— Rob Bluey (@RobertBluey) September 27, 2024
The scripted sequences prove punchy and tart, partly due to Searcy’s gravitas. D’Souza snagged a few comic ringers to make the punch lines pop, including Babylon Bee regulars Jarret LeMaster and Siaka Massaquoi. Christian comic Brad Stine gets in a few feisty licks, too.
The problem? The sequences undercut the film’s serious arguments. It also gives ideology critics a cudgel with which to hammer D’Souza.
A troubling detour finds D’Souza suggesting election ballots can be printed by Joe or Jane Sixpack for a tiny fee, at best, and used to contort the will of the people. The charges are incendiary and demand more screen time, if not a separate, feature-length film.
“2000 Mules” got caught unfairly castigating a Georgia man, causing Salem Media to yank that film from its digital shelves. Given that context, the ballot scenes land awkwardly.
A smattering of local news clips detailing ballot integrity woes helps his argument. That approach should have been used throughout the film.
The election scenes overlap with “Vindicating Trump’s” core conceit. Democrats will seemingly do anything to prevent Trump from securing a second term.
Sound conspiratorial? Remember the Steele Dossier? Endless lawfare? Is ballot fraud a bridge too far?
The film raises so many questions that demand answers, feeding into our conspiratorial age. Remember how deftly D’Souza rides the zeitgeist?
“Vindicating Trump” is pure D’Souza in many ways. It’s unabashedly one-sided. The film’s narratives are ingeniously crafted for red-meat appeal. And the author-turned-filmmaker’s visuals have never been sharper.
The film looks great, a sign of not just D’Souza’s growing strength as a storyteller but the conservative space’s cinematic maturity.
None of that will convince skeptics to watch, let alone engage with “Vindicating Trump.” The MAGA infomercial is for those who bought a red campaign hat in 2016 and never took it off.
HiT or Miss: “Vindicating Trump” offers a worthy counter-balance to the constant anti-Trump media landscape, but the use of fictional asides undercuts the gravity of the message.
I agree that the content of this film could provide seed material for two separate films: One film should be focused on the non-fiction, highly-documented federal investigation abuses (including the “Russia Collusion” FISA application lies), the civil and criminal lawfare cases, and the mountains of evidence demonstrating the 2020 election was stolen. The other film can be a more artistic “based on true events” story about what most likely happened behind the scenes with the evil characters who were constantly trying to “get Trump.” If you want comic relief, all you need to do is include the real-life absurdities of people like Georgia DA Fani (Fanny) Willis and her lover/prosecutor Nathan (“Nathan’s Hotdog”) Wade. Marlon Wayans’ Daily Show interview with Nathan Wade is side-splittingly funny!
I give the author of this article credit for using words effectively and with impact, but he nullifies his credibility for the very same conclusions about the movie he accuses DeSouza. The gap between the realities of MAGA and this woketard is too wide to bridge by human thinking, and this idiot fails miserably in his attempt to explain it. The fact he obviously believes elections are safe and effective completely destroys any serious considerations. He lost me on that point. I think it’s time he gets his booster.
The second half about election integrity was defiantly disturbing!! I am scared our election can be manipulated!
I am proud to admit that I was able to stomach a whole 40 minutes of this fodder for MAGA-robots before I had to walk out. I am also glad to say that, on a Saturday afternoon with the theater parking lot rather full, I was the only person in the theater watching this sad commentary on how so many people in this country love to get led by their entrails.
Incidentally, I went on to a website ‘Worth It or Woke’ before this one to read a review, and when I was ready to leave the site, a pop-up asked if I was going to join or if I was too woke!?!?!
My main hope is that undecided folks will get out and watch this film’s alternative approach to the daily lambasting we get from the fake media and see their way to supporting Trump.
Leaving the movie with my wife, my comments regarding the fictional characters mirror yours. I don’t know how to suggest depicting behind the scenes dialog of progressives, but over=the-top caricatures detracted from the impact of the movie. In the end, the ballot narrative was most disturbing. One can only hope this revelation will stir action before November 5.
I think you could make an entire film out of the fictional elements … lean into it, broaden the satire and see what happens!