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This Divided State

Play trailer Poster for This Divided State 2005 1h 28m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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83% Tomatometer 23 Reviews 84% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
A community-wide battle over free speech is ignited in the most unlikely of places: Utah's sleepy Mormon country, which for the most part leans conservative in its politics. The brouhaha starts prior to the 2004 presidential election, when Utah Valley State College's student body invites Michael Moore, the incendiary filmmaker behind "Bowling for Columbine," to give a speech on campus. This is met by public outrage, death threats and even a bribery attempt to stop the visit from taking place.

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This Divided State

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Critics Consensus

This Divided State takes a flawed yet engrossing ground-level look at how ideological differences can fuel discord -- and how quickly it can spread.

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Critics Reviews

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Dennis Harvey Variety 09/02/2005
As boisterous as it is sobering. Go to Full Review
Frank Scheck The Hollywood Reporter 08/29/2005
It lacks the substance to sustain its feature-length running time. Go to Full Review
Jeff Shannon Seattle Times 08/19/2005
4/4
No matter where you stand, This Divided State has a patriotic, galvanizing effect. Go to Full Review
Mark R. Leeper rec.arts.movies.reviews 07/27/2007
high +1 out of -4..+4
Jules Brenner Cinema Signals 03/28/2007
4/5
The approach to recording the story is everything its subjects aren't. Go to Full Review
Eric Monder Film Journal International 03/01/2007
Vivid, dramatic stuff. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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09/06/2013 An incendiary documentary that captures the controversy surrounding an invitation for Michael Moore to speak at a Utah university in the lead up to the Bush / Kerry election in 2004. First time director Steven Greenstreet wisely chooses to keep away from narration, focusing instead on letting the event protagonists speak their minds, and reveal their attitudes on camera, with seemingly equal exposure given to conservative views and liberal views. The participants are incredibly candid and open with the filmmakers, which really allows the viewer to feel a personal connection with this community, political or religious views notwithstanding. Some genuinely funny scenes and people as well. Sadly, and scarily, my conclusion after watching this is that it seems many have a tenuous grasp on what freedom of speech actually is, and the importance of civil discourse. What's more, lots of feverishly strong opinions without facts to back them up - on both sides of the coin. Technically, the film is rough around the edges, betraying the fact its the work of students who maxed out three credit cards to complete the film, but their efforts have been well worth it; This Divided State is suprisingly effective. See more 08/13/2010 The righteous fight by Bush supporters to be able stick fingers in their ears and go LA LA LA I CANT HEAR YOU. See more 06/15/2010 Great documentary about the outrage caused when a college in conservative Utah decided to let Michael Moore speak. Really shocking at what lengths people were willing to go just to prevent this.... See more 07/21/2009 Interesting look at how a narrow minded community in Utah (what a surprise) tried to prevent Michael Moore from speaking at a university. Obviously this flies against the principle of free speech, but that never stopped the zealots out there. It really is quite simple, go listen if you want and don't go if you don't want to. I guess them exercising their right to protest is a form of free speech and expression. It is amazing that alot of the protesters there hadn't actually seen any of MM's movies or read his books. It kinda makes it hard to take them seriously. See more 03/25/2009 Its a good documentary. It comes across as being pretty fair and does seem to develop the pros and cons that seem to follow Michael Moore around. I do however find alot of the closed mind, republican views pretty scary. Thank god the democrats one 4 years later. See more 01/27/2009 How refreshing it is to see a documentary that tries to show you both sides of the coin. The con and pro Moore sides get to express their reasons for taking the positions they do and the doc lets the audience make up its mind as to what the right choices are and why. See more Read all reviews
This Divided State

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Movie Info

Synopsis A community-wide battle over free speech is ignited in the most unlikely of places: Utah's sleepy Mormon country, which for the most part leans conservative in its politics. The brouhaha starts prior to the 2004 presidential election, when Utah Valley State College's student body invites Michael Moore, the incendiary filmmaker behind "Bowling for Columbine," to give a speech on campus. This is met by public outrage, death threats and even a bribery attempt to stop the visit from taking place.
Director
Steven Greenstreet
Producer
Steven Greenstreet, Phil Gordon, Kristi Haycock
Distributor
Minority Films LLC
Production Co
Minority Films LLC
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 22, 2005, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 8, 2018
Runtime
1h 28m
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