Father and child sit together smiling while looking at a smart phone.

Want more recommendations for your family?

Sign up for our weekly newsletter for entertainment inspiration

Parents' Guide to

2016: Obama's America

By Renee Longstreet, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Anti-Obama documentary trades objectivity for persuasion.

Movie PG 2012 85 minutes
2016: Obama's America Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

See all
age 13+

Based on 4 parent reviews

jam550
jam550 Parent of 4 and 6-year-old
September 29, 2012
age 17+

Bias

This "professional" review shows the obvious political bias of the "impartial" reviewer. This site is about whether movies are appropriate for kids. That said, this movie is a fantastic look at political philosophies and analysis of where Obama is coming from. Obviously over the heads of little kids, but anyone over the age of 13 or so could find it fascinating. Are there any adults at Common Sense that might read this reviewers review and see that it goes beyond the mission of your company and injects a political point of view that obscures an objective read on appropriateness of the movie for kids? Unfortunately, probably not. This site just lost a lot of credibility.
1 person found this helpful.
Technologist
Technologist Adult
September 16, 2012
age 10+

pro reviewer should be politically impartial

I just got home from a matinee of 2016. My ten year old son was sitting next to me throughout and I'm glad he was. I am stunned that the professional reviewer of this site, Ms Schonfeld, gave this work one star. The only possible explanation for this is personal politics. It is not surprising that this would be her persuasion after a career in the entertainment industry and retirement to the Seattle area. I have family members who fit the exact profile and are similarly afflicted. What I would like to see from this site is reviewers who can put their politics aside and tell me what objectionable content that I should protect my children from. Here is what you need to know. If you are a Seattle liberal, you will not like this film. However, the film is well executed, well sourced, historically informative, culturally insightful and effective at communicating its thesis. The content concerns are very slight. But you may have some things to explain to your kids afterward. Reverend Wright is on camera saying "G* D* America" once. It also shows up in text on a graphic next to his photo. Obama's father's drinking is mentioned in passing a couple of times. Also, Obama's father's multiple simultaneous marriages are observed. The violence in the film is limited to some riot scenes taken from news clips where the worst I could make out was a burning American flag. My rating of four stars is for quality of execution and educational value for my children. Political, cultural, historic, and current contexts are presented that will help your child better understand where we are in American and where we and the world have been, politically and culturally. I flagged the positive role model icon because the author/director, Dinesh D'Souza is exactly the kind of self made person I would like my children to aspire to become. He has risen by his own industry and merits, eschewing the easy rewards and status of American victim-hood.

This title has:

Great role models
1 person found this helpful.
See all 4 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Working from his book The Roots of Obama's Rage, filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza's main psychological speculation in 2016: OBAMA'S AMERICA is that Barack Obama is and has always been primarily driven by one central figure in his life: the father who abandoned him. (A source for this theory in the film is a psychologist who specializes in studying males without fathers but who doesn't appear to have met the president.) Starting with that premise and adding newsreel footage, on-camera and telephone interviews, photographs, and visuals from his own recent travels to Kenya and other places that the president has lived, D'Souza broadens the hypothesis and then draws dramatic conclusions about the president's motives, beliefs, and future agenda. According to the movie, the 44th president of the United States is a rabid anti-American, collectivist, pro-Muslim, pro-Palestinian radical who has been waiting for his second term to change the face of America for the worse.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (4 ):
Kids say (1 ):

The filmmaking itself is sometimes clumsy and amateurish (i.e., specific visuals having no relationship to the accompanying audio, heavy-handed music, etc.). And while there's enough authenticity in the film (repeated footage of Reverend Jeremiah Wright's angry sermons, audio clips of Obama narrating his book Dreams from My Father, references to some of Obama's left-wing teachers, colleagues, and friends) to add a modicum of factuality amidst the conjecture and far-fetched rhetoric, it's doubtful that anyone but those who already entertain suspicions about or vehemently oppose the president would take this polemic seriously.

D'Souza released 2016 during the fall of 2012 in order to take advantage of -- and have an impact on -- the Obama-Romney presidential race. It's a slick maneuver, certain to reap box office dollars and add some controversy to an election season that has no shortage of media coverage already. Like famously liberal filmmaker Michael Moore -- albeit with a radically different agenda -- D'Souza is at the center of his film: prodding, reacting, interpreting, restating, and ominously proclaiming.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the various goals of filmmaking: to inform, to entertain, or to persuade. What is the primary purpose of 2016: Obama's America? How do you know? Why is it important to understand the filmmakers' purpose?

  • What are the differences between fact and speculation or opinion? What tools do we have to help us determine which is which?

  • Do you think documentaries are required to be objective? Why or why not?

Movie Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

See all recommended movie lists

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate