WASHINGTON – There are a number of orphan, political, films. These include the Adam Carolla and Dennis Prager documentary “No Safe Spaces”. CDN plans to review these films for conservative and libertarian viewers who might not otherwise know they exist. Which is precisely the plan of the political and media left.
So let’s undermine the leftist efforts by checking out these films-turned-streaming videos, shall we?
Where have all the conservative documentaries gone?
Over the past decade at least, numerous perfectly serious films and documentaries with a right-wing slant have suffered from limited to zero theatrical release. So the filmmakers have no other alternative than to light out for the Internet hinterlands in hopes of finding an audience there.
Subsequently, and if they’re lucky, their film might get picked up by one or more streaming sites. Or, as a last resort, the filmmakers might post the streaming video version of the film on their own website. Most of these orphan films, of course, involve a conservative slant on allegedly “controversial” topics that don’t stick to “the Liberal Narrative.”
That’s why they can’t get into theaters. Sadly, some (not all) these films are slick, well-written, and benefit from excellent production values. Others, not so much.
That’s mainly because conservative films are frequently budget-starved, being produced on a shoestring. Which is why, for example, after decades of waiting, conservatives, libertarians and objectivists were “rewarded” with that sadly awful three-part film version of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged.” The film’s screenwriter falling far short of Ayn Rand fans expectations.
Oh, well…
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Then, there’s “No Safe Spaces”
But that said, our readers should know such films are out there. Otherwise, the propaganda battle waged by Hollywood’s faux-Marxist filmmakers will ultimately prove victorious.
All of this gets us back to this Corolla-Prager documentary, currently available via the Amazon Prime streaming service. Amazon offers us this descriptive blurb.
“The First Amendment and free speech are under attack in America today. Comedian and podcast king Adam Carolla with radio host Dennis Prager take the audience on a powerful journey to expose the growing threat to free speech taking place on university campuses, in social media, and at your place of work.”
Another blurb, this one from SalemNow, which offers to rent or sell you the film, elaborates further.
“Concerned that identity politics are eroding free speech in America, podcast king Adam Carolla and conservative radio show host Dennis Prager crisscross the country talking to students, academics, comics, lawyers and more about First Amendment issues.”
Executive summary
But the film’s website offers us the most colorful – and largely true – executive summary.
“Terrifying violence on college campuses across America. Students lashing out at any speaker brave enough to say something they disagree with. Precious snowflakes demanding “Safe Spaces” to protect them from any idea they haven’t heard from their liberal professors. In o Safe Spaces Dennis Prager and Adam Carolla expose the attack on free speech and free thought. It began in the universities, but – fair warning – it’s coming to your neighborhood and your workplace.”
The “No Safe Spaces” “cast” – if you can call talking heads that fill any documentary film a cast – consists of a small number of conservative luminaries, ranging from Hollywood denizens to political commentators. Besides hosts Carolla and Prager, we run into Tim Allen, Bryan Callen, Ann Coulter, Alan Dershowitz, Karith Foster, Van Jones, Andrew Schulz, Ben Shapiro, and Cornel West along the way.
Try this two-minute trailer on for size.
Taking violent snowflakes on and giving it right back to them
Given a limited theater release in 2019, the film was routinely ignored by the cognoscenti. Or given the usual smug, self-righteous pummeling and ad hominem tarring and feathering that leftist elites use to smear anything that fails to get their imprimatur before release. But some reviews proved surprisingly balanced,. Like this one by Owen Glieberman in Variety. His conclusion is one that needs serious consideration, even by doctrinaire leftists. The kind that generally deplores a film without having ever seen it.
“The most head-turning point made by ‘No Safe Spaces’ is that today’s anti-free-speech radicals, who on many college campuses dominate the discourse, are going to be tomorrow’s leaders. The university has, in a sense, been a Petri dish for the winnowing down of the First Amendment. Unless this idea is fought against, it’s likely to spread far beyond the cloister of academia. And if that happens, it won’t only be about controlling ‘hate speech.’ It will be about controlling your speech, just because someone else hates it.”
So what’s our REAL opinion?
Well, we’ve given the floor to everybody else, so it’s time for this critic to weigh in. And frankly, I can’t add a lot to what’s been said. Like many a political documentary, this one is primarily for conservatives and libertarians. They have more need for red meat these days than lefties, who’ve been saturated with the kind of virtue-signaling and confirmation bias they prefer. The subject matter and the way it’s treated is intuitively obvious to any conservative American patriot.
For this reason, at times, the film verges on becoming self-congratulatory. Particularly in those interspersed sections that provide biographical info on our hosts. Along with the occasional rude encounters they have with the nasty, hate-filled Marxists who work tirelessly to stifle and cancel the free-speech rights of people they don’t like.
On the other hand, the film’s special guest stars, coming from a wide variety of walks in life, are refreshingly candid about the left’s relentless suppression of free speech rights. And this candor even includes a few remarkable alarm bell ringings from well-known leftists who actually appear in this film. Which makes it, in an odd way, considerably more “fair and balanced” than any of the hyperpartisan drivel Michael Moore customarily puts out.
Carolla’s witty comic touch lightens the atmosphere considerably
Better yet, aside from the self-congratulatory stuff, Carolla and Prager are actually pretty engaging as hosts. Carolla, a comic by trade, but more recently turned political commentator largely via his popular podcast, adds plenty of robustly wry humorous asides to this film’s commentary.
Carolla’s deftly humorous touches serve to lighten the atmosphere of this otherwise serious examination of the left’s systematic attack on this country’s Bill of Rights. For that reason, the subject matter seems to go down more easily than it does in some of Dinesh D’Souza’s otherwise excellent documentary films.
Prager provides value-added as well but in a more traditionally serious fashion. Prager’s interactions with Carolla do generally cause him to lighten up a bit. In sum, the lighter touch this film takes when dealing with its unfortunate and sometimes depressing subject matter makes the whole exercise go down much easier than it might have otherwise.
Those seriously interested in a more realistic take on the left’s concerted attack against our First Amendment rights would do well to check “No Safe Spaces” out.
This film offers a “safe space” for real Americans to reaffirm their First Amendment rights
Everyone needs a “safe space” to both hear and express opposing ideas, in the sense that those ideas should be heard and respected even if many listeners disagree with them. By forcing only one set of opinions on Americans, especially the young, the left by design produces half-formed young adults. They lack the capacity to distinguish oppressive politics from egalitarian politics.
It’s a serious issue. And viewing films like this can and do provide a serious, but occasionally funny alternative to the nasty, hate-filled leftist rhetoric that dominates today’s political conversations. Carolla and Prager had the guts to put this argument out there. And hopefully, more viewers will have the guts to watch it and make up their own minds rather than accepted the pre-digested leftist pap put out by the likes of CNN.
“No Safe Spaces” is not a great film, but it’s an intelligent film. A worthy one that argues persuasively in favor of the real American way. Check it out on Amazon, on the film’s own site, or via any number of alternative routes you can find on the Internet by searching the film’s title.
