The Undefeated

People expecting to watch The Undefeated and see a polarizing, divisive Sarah Palin might be disappointed. The real Sarah Palin shown in this film is more about battling corruption than scoring cheap political points. Afterall, this is the woman who enjoyed a sustained 80% approval rating governing the state of Alaska, where more than two-thirds of the electorate are independent. This is the woman who turned in her state party chairman for ethics violations. He later received the largest ethics fine in state history.

Sarah Palin had high approval ratings in Alaska because she worked in bi-partisan fashion to pursue popular reforms, including a nearly unanimous and sweeping ethics law, a new system for calculating oil royalties, and the blueprint for a $40 billion natural gas line.

Since being picked as a VP candidate, this popular governor has been subjected to more bizarre scrutiny than any VP candidate in history.

I challenge skeptics to watch this film with an open mind to see the popular reformer who took on the special interests in her home state.

I want to first off make it clear that I have no political axe to grind here. As far as I am concerned both the Dems AND Repubs are equally useless. That said, I want you to know that I review this "film" on it's merits as a documentary and not in critique of the (admittedly weird) political content.

This film was a hodgepodge of sound bites and glowing testimonials to the power of Sarah Palin, nothing more. There was very little in the way of followable narrative, and any and all opposing viewpoints where hissed upon as some kind of shadowy conspiracy from "the left" to destroy what they see as their biggest threat. It felt more like a dumbed down version of "Triumph of the Will" to me. And like Leni Riefenstahl's classic film, it left me with a sense of dread in knowing that so many people can be so easily swayed by melodramatic notions of patriotism and willful demagoguery.

And at least Riefenstahl could work a camera in a manner that didn't look like she was about to have an epileptic fit. The camera work in some of the interview portions makes it seem like someone is tickling the camera person. This may have been an attempt at making the scene look more "urgent" or "home brewed" I don't know, but it came across like someone skimmed through "An Idioit's Guide to Cutting Edge Documentary Filmmaking" the night before and didn't quite get it.

If Palin truly had aspirations for some form of national higher office, I really feel that she may have blown it by allowing this stinker to be released. It's a real shame too, because the US really needs a shakeup in it's political system. If you are a fan of Sarah Palin, do not watch this film as it may leave a bad taste in your mouth due to it's transparent attempt at being an extended infomercial.

As an Alaskan, I consider this movie a comedy. I could have given it a 10 for that, but the intent was a documentary, therefore, I gave it a low rating. What I find odd is that most documentaries have actual interviews, but this one, used cut and paste of selected dialogue from people who were close to Mrs. Palin. I did not see a good sampling of people on the streets or people who worked with Mrs. Palin who were not part of her buddies. She hired most of her staff from her friends in Wasilla and/or people who were referred by her friends, not in an open way that most employers do. She hired "yes,maam" people, and these are the only ones who are depicted in this film. The person she hired to run the controversial dairy whose only qualification was she "liked cows" is a sampling of Mrs. Palin's CEO abilities. The movie doesn't give the facts about her mayor-ship of Wasilla; she hired a city manager (city of 5,000 population at the time of her election) because she didn't know what to do. She left the city of Wasilla in 21 million dollar debt, whereas before her "CEO" endeavors there was zero debt. Oh, and when the fast growing city needed infrastructure like sewer and water, she built a hockey stadium, and named it after a high school boyfriend.

The way the movie was put together was so insulting to anyone's intelligence, that it had to be a comedy.

I really liked this documentary, and was most impressed with the work of Mr. Bannon. I loved the way he took the narrators from color to black and white...from individual to "everyman". The scenery was spectacular as well.

I had no idea that Sarah Palin had done so much for the good of Alaska. I learned a lot from that part of the film.

And as to the question of vitriol directed against the subject of the film..I can only propose that she is a walking reminder of someone who attempts to live life in accordance with her personal moral and spiritual values. This is a blatant reminder of the hypocrisy in our own lives and those who decry "hate speech" find themselves engaging in it. Let's tear her down and then we'll feel better about who we are. How shameful! "By their (our) fruits you will know them (us)."

Two thumbs up! Good job, Mr. Bannon.

This is so unspeakably dreadful, by my own assessment I should say no more.

This is not a movie. It's an infomercial and like most infomercials it is riddled with omissions, exaggerations and downright lies. From the erroneous title -- she was defeated twice, once in the Alaskan primary for lieutenant governor and, of course, as John McCain's running mate, through the over-the-top, ridiculous imagery of lions eating zebras, boxers, etc. and let us not forget the mushroom cloud, it would be a total embarrassment to anyone with the brains to know what embarrassment is.

I might have given it one point more if finally someone had told us the real reason the woman quit as governor.