Political films are meant to outrage, galvanize and incite viewers to action. But something went horribly wrong on Tuesday when Islamic protests at the U.S. consulates in Egypt and Libya lead to the killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three American staffers, reportedly based on a trailer of an anti-Muslim movie called “Innocence of Muslims.” For SnagFilms’ election blog, I offer my commentary on the still unfolding story about the movie that has been blamed for the mayhem.

Here is an excerpt:

“Currently going viral on YouTube, the 14-minute trailer appears so poorly conceived — a low-budget ridiculous lampooning of Islam and the Prophet Muhammed — that one is hard-pressed to take it seriously. But as the stellar box office performance of Dinesh D’Souza’s Obama-bashing documentary “2016: Obama’s America” has shown, it doesn’t take intelligent insights or solid evidence to move audiences; it just takes provocation.”