The Undefeated

With all the glowing reviews you'd think this film would have a rating over 8, instead of the dismal 1.6 reflective of some of the worst films ever made. This means the people who loved it (or love Sarah Palin) took the time to write a review, while the vast majority who thought it was complete garbage didn't bother. There is only one conclusion one could extrapolate from this: Palin supporters are a dedicated, but very much in the minority.

I don't think this was the worst film ever made, but let's be clear that this was a fluff piece for the main subject. Politically it's no more nor less one-sided than a Michael Moore doc, but at least Michael Moore brings awareness to a particular subject of topical interest rather than simply shameless self-promotion. Even as a bit of propaganda, The Undefeated is heavy-handed, too long, unsubtle, and lacks an engaging narrative structure.

I noticed that most of the positive reviewers also had never reviewed another film besides this one, suggesting they created a profile just to promote The Undefeated.

If you're huge fan of Palin, have $10-15 to burn, and want to spend 2 hours hearing about how wicked her detractors are and how awesome she is, then this documentary might be for you. Or you could just read some of the glowing 'reviews' here and get the gist of the type of person who would love it. Personally, I wish I had accidentally walked into the wrong theater and saw Captain America instead.

The trouble with Sarah Palin is most of us have already made up our minds about her and for the most part negatively. If Stanley Kubrick directed a positive film about her, and threw in all the spaceships, monkeys, atomic blasts and Alex's he could muster, we'd hate it still. We come to this film seeking comedy or horror. And Stephen Bannon is no Stanley Kubrick.

Bit of background. I'm an American living in Barcelona. The Europeans I've spoken about her with, those who've been paying any attention, either loathe her or are genuinely puzzled by her ascension. Bearing that in mind, a Catalan friend obtained a copy through some interwebz magic and invited myself and girlfriend to watch.

From the opening the room was filled with laughter. They were likely relying more on the subs and may have experienced a very different film from myself but our reactions were the same. Laughter, then boredom. A few more snickers then everyone turned their attention away from the screen and to the wine and the company.

Long story short, it was a campaign ad. A very, very long ad that only those smitten by Palin will likely watch.

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.

Of course its no surprise to see certain segments resorting to stuffing the ballot box for a movie they never saw.

What is truly amazing is the hate coming from people. Why do they hate Sarah Palin so much, they'd register on a site and vote against a movie about her when they never even saw the movie. Did she hurt them in some way? Did she cost them money or their job? Did she hurt their family or their family pet?

Did she send their son, daughter, husband, or wife off to war? Did she raise their taxes or stop their government checks?

No, she didn't do any of that. In fact, unless you lived in Alaska, she's never had one iota of control over you or them. ...and in Alaska, she is still considered a great governor.

What did she do to these people that they've gone into catatonic fits of rage in opposition to the mere mention of her name?

See the movie and find out the answer to the mystery.

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.