I just saw the worst movie I have seen in 2023. And it is Executive Produced by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s film production company Higher Grounds Productions. It is about the end of America. Several countries are rattled off in a cavalier fashion as being responsible for the “death of America.” These countries include Iran, Iraq, Korea, China and others. Really, President Obama, you have absolutely no problem whatsoever in executive producing a movie that names other countries as being responsible for the “death of America”? Wow. You are aware that at this auspicious moment, the “most moral democracy in the middle east,” your pal Israel, has slaughtered more than 19,000 Palestinians, thousands of them children, with American weapons and money, correct? And you have the gall to executive produce an “apocalyptic thriller” about the “death of America” caused by Korea, China, Iran, Iraq? You should change the name of your production company from Higher Ground Productions to Outer Space and Lost Production Company.
The plot is astonishingly bad even for an “apocalyptic thriller.” A vapid family — mom, dad, hormonal son, precocious daughter, what else? — go on a vacation to a house by the lake. Then the world ends. Or it is America ends. Or Americans vanish. Or something. And the animals take over the land. And the mom Julia Roberts makes a big speech about how materialistic we all are: speak for yourself, mom/Julia Roberts. Speak for yourself. Then the other kid of the other family tells her that she does not generally agree with anything Julia Roberts says — because she is African American and Julia Roberts is not — but here, they see eye to eye: we are awful materialists. Speak for yourself, kid.
Both the black family and white family admit they need to be nicer to each other — the kind of thing families agree on at the end of the world. Then the kid plays the last episode of *Friends.* There you have it. Just be nice and be friendly with each other. Then far away in the distance we see America dying. A totally bad vacation.
America dying is awful, we all agree. Any country dying is awful. But it takes a particular type of cluelessness and arrogance to name and blame China, Korea, Iran and Iraq for it. America, heal thyself. Especially since your money and weapons are helping the great model democracy of Israel to kill Arab Muslims in Palestine even as this vapid movie is playing on Netflix. I expected better from you, President Obama. Put your money elsewhere, please.
The Red Earth 