It's not entirely clear who this documentary is for -- it does feature a lot of anti-Trump Republicans like Bill Kristol and eventual convert George Conway (whose admission that he voted for Trump the first go round makes his potentially moving explanation for how he determined he was a racist fall flat). There are no Democrats to be seen really, which suggests it is aimed at disaffected conservatives -- a group that is already disproportionately represented in the media.
And since Trump supporters broadly have been proven infamously, inexplicably loyal to him -- this film is debuting amid the release of an audiotape where the president proudly admits to covering up the real dangers of the coronavirus for weeks -- it's highly unlikely to change many minds.
Still, there is another side to the film that is compelling. Plenty of people have armchair psychoanalyzed the president before, but the sober, articulate doctors in this film do it with such clarity and precision that you find yourself drawn in.
Additionally parallels are drawn to dictators like Mussolini and Hitler -- not in a histrionic way, but with great logic and humility. I simply wish the film had stuck to this track instead of turning into a highlight reel of Trump atrocities peppered with the occasional talking head (although a segment about how he cheats at golf is hilarious and oddly profound).
This is no Dinesh D'Souza propaganda piece -- the movie takes great pains to explain the historical precedent for why psychologists are discouraged from wading into presidential politics. In the 1964, several doctors crossed the line by making wild, unsubstantiated claims about GOP nominee Barry Goldwater's mental state. But their point that Trump's pathology is on display for all to see is well taken.
The problem is for all its clever editing and smart analysis, Unfit reveals little that is new about this president and if it was meant to move the needle in the presidential race, it certainly won't.
Recall that 16 years ago Michael Moore's acclaimed Fahrenheit 9/11 arrived with much greater fanfare and was a massive hit. That film, at least at the time, felt extraordinary --particularly because it had the audacity to 'go there' and question the orthodoxy around George W. Bush's supposed heroism on 9/11.
I remember thinking that that movie was going to really change things, that if anyone saw it they couldn't possible vote for Bush. And well, we all know what happened.
No movie can fix this. Only we can -- while we still can. Unfit might make for a nifty artifact, particularly when people look back on this terrible era and try to understand the madness of the man and his supporters. But for now it's nothing special.
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