Liran Kapoano could feel something change during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The East Brunswick resident and active member of the Jewish and pro-Israel communities was a lifelong Republican who in that campaign did something he never could have before imagined himself doing—actively campaigning for Democrat Hillary Clinton. Yet as he delved deeper into the election he found some people who had previously voted for Barack Obama had now voted for Donald Trump. Some decided not to vote at all. What was happening in America?

So in the aftermath of the 2016 election, Kapoano set out with a group of independent filmmakers to find out why the United States had so radically changed course.

“Racism is not a satisfactory answer,” said the filmmaker, an executive producer of the documentary that came out of interviews conducted in 2016 and 2020 with swing voters from across the political spectrum from all over Pennsylvania and Michigan.

The filmmakers returned to speak to those same voters to see how their views had changed. In the interim and in the years after the 2020 election, respected and knowledgeable experts and intellectuals were interviewed to get their take on trends shaping the country and driving the hyper-polarization, and learn how America got to this point and what happened to other countries that had similar experiences.

The result is a 90-minute documentary, “The American Question,” which will premiere on October 25 in Manhattan in a program featuring director James Kicklighter and Amy Chua, one the experts featured in the film. The exact location will be provided after registering. To make the eight-year project, $250,000 was raised.

The journey ultimately seeks to find an answer to a troubling question: Can Americans find common ground and unify as a nation?

“The message of our film is not just that one side is right and the other is wrong, but that a lot of Americans have lost faith in our institutions, and it explores what that can lead to and how it can be replaced,” said Kapoano. “It can, but it will take commitment.”

In addition to being an executive producer Kapoano is one of four co-founders of the film. Another of those founders is political analyst Guy Tal Seemann, a former Edison resident who has since made aliyah, who narrates the film. He formerly worked as a U.S. Senate aide and in Middle East national security strategy for the Israeli government.

The documentary team talked to a wide ranging group of people—a gym owner in Erie, Pennsylvania. and another man who worked at an auto manufacturing plant. Kapoano himself went to Hazelton, Pennsylvania, which now has a number of Dominican immigrants, which has caused a lot of tension.

That loss of faith in neighbors, community, government and institutions is plumbed through analysis from leading political scientists and historians.

While the film doesn’t specifically have any Jewish focus, the rise in political violence is ominous for Jews, said Kapoano, a board member of the Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey and co-chair of its Jewish Community Relations Council.

“I don’t think I need to tell anyone that when political violence increases, it’s always bad for the Jews and it’s particularly concerning for me as an American and Jew because my grandparents were Holocaust survivors from Greece,” said Kapoano. “If we are on opposite sides of a civil war—I don’t think that’s going to happen, but the fact that it’s even being discussed shows the winds of change and chaos are blowing— no Jewish population has ever survived in a chaotic situation where order breaks down.”

The experts interviewed cited conditions leading to the rise and fall of countries, specifically superpowers.

“We spoke to people knowledgeable about American history and how different regions developed,” said Kapoano. “It’s not unusual that people in the Northeast vote differently than people in the Southeast. People who immigrated there were from different countries, which are different from the countries from where people immigrated to the Midwest. It’s not so much about weather or geography. So much of what we argue about today goes back to the founding of the nation and the immigration patterns of the 1800s.”

Chua, one of the experts cited, is a legal scholar and author of five books, including “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” and two on international affairs.

She contrasted the United States with the Mongolian Empire, which briefly ruled over Europe and Asia despite its small size. The empire was able to thrive and remain powerful by integrating into it the nations it conquered.

“It sounds counterintuitive, but they were a very progressive empire,” said Kapoano. “Other empires dominated groups and nations, but they integrated them into the empire, very much like the United States has done with its immigrants. Once the Mongolians stopped being multicultural and only allowed for native Mongolians, the empire started to fall apart.”

Other superpowers have followed the same pattern, including the former Soviet Union, which had absorbed the best parts of other cultures into its own, and the same pattern even hastened the fall of the Roman Empire.

“The minute they stopped being tolerant of different races they stopped being able to innovate,” said Kapoano. “The way we were able to get strength in the United States is that we took the best German scientists and Asian intellects and integrated them. If we start to go in the direction of xenophobia and start not being tolerant of immigrants, are we entering our own decline?” To make the point, Roman ruins in Israel were filmed along with those of the Crusaders and Turks.

“We looked at great civilizations that in almost every case destroyed themselves,” said Kapoano.

However, the documentary isn’t all doom and gloom, he said. “The film is actually quite optimistic. Some people who were ‘anti’ the other side four years earlier actually became more open and tolerant of political opponents and some have improved their relationships with their neighbors.”

As for himself, Kapoano registered as a Democrat after Trump’s election, but wasn’t comfortable there either and became an independent, where he believes he will remain the rest of his life. “Right now I support the candidate who has the most collection of normal people who support democracy,” he said. “It’s the only choice I have.”

The documentary is available to preorder on Apple TV+ and will be available on various services, including Amazon Prime and YouTube. For more information, registration and platforms to watch go to theamericanquestion.com.

Debra Rubin has had a long career in journalism writing for secular weekly and daily newspapers and Jewish publications. She most recently served as Middlesex/Monmouth bureau chief for the New Jersey Jewish News. She also worked with the media at several nonprofits, including serving as assistant public relations director of HIAS and assistant director of media relations at Yeshiva University.