Us Primary Politics Follow

Politics is, by nature, a game of smoke and mirrors. An entire industry has been created to manage image and control message yet the following documentaries offer up behind the scenes observations of the very machinery of elections, free of spin and full of fascinating insights. 1. PRIMARY (1960) Robert Drew and a crew that included doc film legends Richard Leacock, Albert Maysles and D. A. Pennebaker set the precedent for political documentaries with this vérité look at the 1960 Democratic nomination battle between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey. Drew focuses on the critically important Wisconsin primary. Leacock's camera follows close behind each candidate as they traverse the state shaking hands, kissing babies and connecting to voters with dramatically contrasting styles (and theme songs). "Primary" is an intimate account from inside the innermost sanctum of not one, but two presidential campaigns and a rare archive of the origins of the Kennedy mystique. After screening the film for Kennedy, Drew was invited to continue to document the presidency by placing cameras in the oval office. 2. THE WAR ROOM (1993) D. A. Penebaker and Chris Hegedus take us inside Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign, turning the tactical game of political strategy into a spectator sport. The filmmakers cleverly resolve the problem of having limited access to the candidate by focusing on the dynamic duo of chief strategist James Carville and media director George Stephanopoulos. The hyperactive Carville and erudite Stephanopoulos are compelling and surprisingly candid as they eagerly toil at anticipating and responding to George Bush's every move. Carville provides the greatest amusement, bounding around in jeans and LSU baseball hat, shouting now-classic catchphrases like: "It's the economy, stupid," all the while pursuing a relationship with the enemy, GOP operative Mary Matalin (now his wife).