Journeys with George

I got to see a screening of this movie at the Newport International Film Festival a few summers ago. The sold out show made it a joy to have a theater full of people laughing at the series of segments captured during his 2000 campaign for President. I got to see the movie for free since I was volunteering my services to the film festival. After the movie, I had to drive the director of Journey's with George to the train station in the nearby town. She was dressed all in purple. From her blouse to her pants and sneakers, she stuck out like a sore thumb that was bruised purple. Like her wardrobe, the movie stuck out amongst the rest of the film screened at the festival. It was a hit amongst its audience and fans of the local republican base in Newport, Rhode Island.

I saw this film on HBO, and I felt like I just watched a 1-1/2-hour Leftist propaganda piece. It doesn't feel real for some reason. It looks like it was made only to slam Bush and Republicans as much as possible, rather than to entertain or enlighten. Every character (real person) is irritated, as well as irritating (including the Governor-cum-President Bush, who has to stick his eye into the camera lens every other scene). If the press corps is so uncomfortable with their assignment, QUIT and go to the other side!!!! (I'm sure the Gore campaign was a hell of a lot more bearable for people like this, but I digress). Smarmy and condescending; unpatriotic to a fault. I feel like s**t for being an American because of this presentation. It did, however, show a lot about how much power the press has in shaping public opinion. Scary.

This is a kind of haphazardly organized documentary of W's campaign for prez, with lots of wide-angle shots of the boys and girls on the bus, and W himself mugging and chatting, and with occasional mostly editorial voice-over comments by Alexandra Pelosi. I used the word haphazardly before because things are brought up and left hanging, though perhaps deliberately. For instance, I have no idea why the hell Pelosi's hair was falling out or what, if anything, she did about it.

The first ten or fifteen minutes are rather like a home movie of somebody's adventurous trip to the Galapagos or something and I was about to switch channels when I realizing that some development was taking place. W comes across as rather a likable guy, with light-hearted moments if not exactly witty ones. He seems genuinely friendly. Then I realized that he more or less HAD to give the impression of warmth and friendliness. I mean, the guy is addressing a planeload of reporters covering his campaign! Still, he's quite good at impression management. At the start of the campaign he rarely makes himself cozy with the press. But when he slips in the polls and loses a state or two his appearances on the press vehicles increase in number and in the degree of their relaxation. On the other hand, when it is clear that he has won, he disappears and pretends not to hear the questions thrown at him by his friends in the fifth estate whose first names he has taken the trouble to memorize. He doesn't need them anymore.

They're quite a bunch too, those journalists, when you come right down to it. Reporters certainly know how to throw a party in the back of the bus. And it seems to help in gaining access to the candidate if you're a pert-nosed lively young brunette, as Pelosi is. (W gives her a peck on the cheek at one point.)

But she's a dyed in the wool democrat and throws him a fast ball at a public Q & A session, about Texas having such a high rate of executions. For a while thereafter he punishes her by not answering her questions, and spells out the reason for it -- on camera too.

It's difficult to see through W's (or any other politician's) rhetoric and frozen smiles, but I must say that he seems smoothly amiable as far as we can tell. He shows no evidence of being intellectually challenged. I wound up asking myself how such a normal guy could be such a stupid president. Of course every politician blows the occasional line. But this? "There's nothing more deep than Israel's right to exist. That's the most deep thought of all. I can't think of anything deeper than that right." And how could such a normal guy be so enthusiastic about beginning an unprovoked war against a nation who's name half of our leaders can't pronounce properly.

More recently Pelosi called to Bush from a crowd of reporters. He recognized her, waved, and shouted, "I made you famous." A revealing response, which boils down to "You owe me."

This documentary gives a real in-depth, behind-the scenes view of the journey for politically campaigning. From its infancy up until the end of the election.

For one, George W. Bush personifies a go-getter from the beginning hopefully becoming triumphant at the end of his 'journey' to become president. It shows his highs and lows in the political race as he is faced with constant scrutiny as well as great accomplishments along the way. You can't have a comment without a compliment in the media. The two are inseparable and George W. Bush allows for both the bad and good to be reinforced always into a positive. For some reason, he can take any comment and make it into a compliment.

He keeps battling these obstacles and successfully rising above them, only to allow them to resemble him as a go getter in his 'journey'.

The film was entertaining. It provided a candid look at W, before and after the reality of his "situation" (being a viable candidate for President) had really "sunk in." It also provides a great look at how managed are a candidate and the public's view of that candidate. In particular, Rove's role in the entire campaign was apparent ("Bush's Brain," past and present).

At any stage of W's evolution, one thing was clear in the film: W is socially awkward. His attempts at humor are, most often, ill-timed and unsophisticated; sometimes inappropriate. It reflects an apparent discomfort with himself and with others. I must say that I am not at all comforted by having seen this view of W.