Director Justin Falk understands why people are likening his film “Am I Racist?” to the 2006 comedy “Borat.”
Borat had Sacha Baron Cohen going undercover as a rude Kazakh. Am I Racist? had Matt Walsh of What Is a Woman fame as a DEI “expert.” Both were improvisational gimmicks in the Candid Camera mold. Each was unique and entertaining.
The director maintains that her team did not take the DEI advocates' comments out of context.
Falk believes there is a crucial difference between the two.
“Sacha Baron Cohen was trying to make fun of everyday Americans, and yes, it can come across as a bit mean at times, but at the same time, it's really funny,” Falk told Align magazine. “What Matt's doing is different. He's not making fun of people, he's making fun of bad ideas. … It's not a personal attack. He's taking aim at the ideas that they're promoting to the masses.”
“Am I Racist?” is the first Daily Wire title to be released in theaters. In the docu-comedy, Walsh, nominally disguised in a man bun and herringbone jacket, interviews “White Fragility” author Robin DiAngelo and other DEI luminaries.
The point is to use humor to target the woke mindset that has come under attack across the culture in recent months.
“Laughter makes people more receptive to new ideas,” Falk said. “People are very tense about racial issues, so it's important to find common ground and lighten the mood.”
Walsh seems like an interesting character to do just that: He's a stoic presence whose strong Catholic faith permeates the podcast's musings, and his calm on-screen demeanor makes him a perfect fit for a project like “Am I Racist?”
“[Matt Walsh] “He has the best deadpan delivery of anybody I've ever seen, and it allows him to bring insanity into a situation without anybody noticing or giving it away,” he says. “He's able to fully commit to the moment without anybody predicting it's a joke.”
Falk and Walsh originally teamed up for 2022's “What Is a Woman?”, a documentary that has since infiltrated the mainstream and put the title on the lips of many Americans. The film's short run on X has Approximately 200 million viewsAccording to one report.
Falk rejected the idea of a sequel, but wanted to continue his partnership with Walsh, and the two settled on another “untouchable” theme: race.
Audiences may wonder how Falk's crew managed to shoot the scenes for the movie — sure, it's an awkward comedy style that's been around for decades — but they appealed to a group not normally close to Walsh.
Falk explains the process.
“Everything we do with these people is exactly what we told them we would do,” he says. “We're making a film about anti-racism. … We come to them as experts and say, can you explain it to us? They've agreed to do it in front of the camera.”
The director maintains that his team did not take DEI advocates' statements out of context, and he doesn't believe his subjects would retract what was said on screen.
“I still believe 100 percent of what they say in the movie to this day,” he said. Several people featured in the film, including D'Angelo, have since resigned. X is gone.
Talk about “white fragility”!
Unusual documentaries can have a profound cultural impact. Al Gore's 2006 film “An Inconvenient Truth” changed the way many Americans view climate change, regardless of where they stand on the issue.
Falk hopes “Am I Racist?” will have a similarly big impact on culture.
“DEI is full of harmful ideas. It's divisive. Personally, I think it should be illegal,” he said, citing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which banned preferential treatment based on race. “Now is the perfect time to make a film like this.”
“What Is a Woman?” shocked the culture while being released mostly as a pay-per-view. “Am I Racist?” will be released in theaters nationwide on September 13, 2024.
That's important, says Falk, who sees multiplexes as key to getting the message out beyond the online conservative bubble: “That way we're not just telling our own story.”
