The War Room

As a student of Political Sciences, I believe this to be one of the most fascinating and introspective documentaries regarding the subject of campaigning. The first modern campaign, the 92 Clinton war is an amazing melodrama of quick rises to power, downfalls, villains, heroes, and the precursor to one of the most vicious political battles of our nation's history. In the film, if you look hard enough, you see the seeds of weakness being sown which would lead to an awesome political showdown which is more grand, more high-stakes, and more dark than the plotline of any film in this database. Note: If you like "The War Room," read Woodward's "The Agenda."

This is one of the great political films since All the President's Men, and one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. The story is fascinating, the characters are very interesting, and its all real. Even the music adds to the frenetic pace of the film.

The documentary follows the 1992 Clinton Campaign from the doldrums in New Hampshire, through the Democratic convention in New York to its summit on election night in Little Rock. But Clinton spends very little time on the screen. The film captures the behind-the-scenes action of James Carville, George Stephanopolis, and the rest of the cast and crew of Clinton campaign headquarters. The film shows how TV spots are written, how interviews are managed, how the candidates' message is distributed, and how the "spin doctors" do their stuff.

The pace is quick. Staffers come into and out of scenes constantly, and there is a great deal of off-camera dialogue, much like an emergency-room scene from E.R. The mix of standard documentary footage with news reports and interviews is terrific. Some of the best scenes are of the pols watching the news reports and reacting to what they see.

The central character is James Carville, who is more interesting than anyone else in the campaign, much moreso than the candidates themselves. He reveals that his "Ragin' Cajun" image is genuine, for he is truly passionate about his work. But it also reveals a mind working on overdrive, and a sensitive nature that you wouldn't expect to see. His "people will say you are lucky" speech to staffers at the end of the film is as moving as anything written for the studio, and moreso because it is genuine.

Stephanopolis came off less well. Behind his youthful looks and seeming intelligence comes a certain shallowness. Much of his contribution was more of a "me too" nature than anything truly creative or deep. He also had a moment at the end of the film when, in a room with a starry-eyed female staffer, he's describing how he feels. And the conclusion is, not much. It is not hard to understand why years later George was a washout in the Clinton White House, never managed another campaign, and is now earning his living in front of the camera.

After all is said and done, it is clear that the candidate is secondary in a modern presidential election. He's like the hand your dealt in a game of poker. It's important, but what you do with it once it is dealt to you is much more important. And these guys are pros.

So are the filmmakers. There were several times when I had to remind myself that this was a documentary, and not a work of fiction. In fact, if you see it immediately after seeing "Primary Colors" you'll see that truth is not only stranger than fiction, but it can be more interesting as well.

The War Room does a good job of extolling the skills of James Carville and George Stephanopolous. Clearly, their work had much to do with Clinton's victory. A little known fact about the film is that the actual campaign manager, David Wilhelm, refused to participate in it. He didn't like the idea of a camera crew roaming the headquarters and recording conversations that he felt should have been private. Clinton overruled him, of course. As a result, the documentary skews history a bit. The nuts and bolts of running a campaign are ignored while the craft of spin doctoring is glorified. In a visual medium, that's not altogether surprising, and it may even have been unavoidable. But the misrepresentation -- or rather, the selective representation -- has had the unintended consequence of contributing to public cynicism about political campaigns, which now appear to be all about the spin, the framing -- the very things that make voters feel like they're being manipulated. Perhaps a stronger emphasis on the heavy lifting of door-to-door canvassing, phone banking, meetings with interest groups, outreach to local officials, event set-up, and the like, would have given a more complete picture. Then again, those aren't exactly telegenic activities, and documentary filmmakers may have been hard-pressed to incorporate them even if Wilhelm had cooperated. But the troublesome implications remain, and are worth considering.

I don't profess to know anything about the inner workings of a political machine, so I was really interested in seeing a behind the scenes look at what goes on. As ignorant as I am, The War Room didn't tell me anything new. There seemed to be a consciousness (either on the part of the "war room" staff or the filmmakers) that this movie was in no way to smudge Clinton's image. So, we see a whole lotta Clinton supporters with no cracks showing in their dedication. The Clinton campaign machine comes off as the good guys while choosing to show Bush at his most offensive. These scenes were, I'm sure, included to make me appalled at the tactics employed by Bush, but instead it just made me realize that I'd probably learn more about campaigning if I were allowed 90 minutes in the REPUBLICAN war room.

James Carville was quite impressive in all of his tic-riddled glory. If I were running for anything, I would certainly want him in my corner. But the most clear-headed person to hit the screen was the enemy, Mary Matalin. She may not be charismatic, but she seemed to be the only who truly believed in her candidate instead of the hype.

The opening of the War Room is unique. We see Bill Clinton, Governor of Arkansas at the time, looking back into the camera, at the audience, with a baseball cap on his head, and a t-shirt covering his body. About to sit down to have his cereal for breakfast, Clinton is talking casual on the phone to a friend. Like the opening conversation, the War Room is as unique and clever as any political documentary before or after. Most of the world did not known who James Carville was until 1992 / 1993. Most know him as a fast talking, cocky, and brilliant political player. Here, we see a deeper human being with more than just an objective, but a message to America. Behind his tears, we see the truth behind the Clinton Campaign in 1991. Whether you are a fan of politics or don't have the stomach to digest politics, you will enjoy the War Room.