Lots of documentaries aspire to be authentic fly-on-the-wall enterprises, offering viewers a chance to see what they didn’t see on the news, didn’t learn from official statements, and get a feel of what “really” went on behind-the-scenes and what the key political players are “really like.” HBO’s By The People: The Election of Barack Obama which airs at 9 p.m. tonight offers viewers the perspective of a revealing fly, indeed.
Years from now the film — produced by actor Edward Norton, with directing team of Amy Rice and Alicia Sams, and his producing partners at Class 5 Films — will likely be a prototype for filmmakers and depending on how Obama’s political saga ends a chronicle of either one of the greatest let-downs in American political history or a turning point.
As Rolling Stone notes in an interview with Norton, the film actually started out as a documentary about a young freshman Senator named Barak Obama, with initial footage shot in 2006. But along the way Barack Obama, guided by national political dynamics, his own hunches, his advisers’ beliefs, plus his ambitions and own sense that his candidacy could succeed, got a bit sidetracked.
Make no bones about it: a preview of By the People is a film that is no”Making of the President,” covering both sides. The camera and filmmakers clearly are enamored with Obama, his supporters and his campaign staff. Yet, if it is seemingly part Obama commercial, it doesn’t entirely fit into that category, either. If it had been that the film would have dwelled on a key aspect of the campaign which is mentioned in passing and not given much time at all: America’s Fall 2008 economic melt down.
Rather, it’s a quintessential fly-on-the-wall documentary told through exclusive footage of Obama and his staff shot over 19 months. And the glories and pitfalls of exclusive acess show. The pitfall: it assumes viewers already know many of the key developments in campaign 2008 and the national and world political context at that time. Obama’s key campaign rivals during campaign 2008 — Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton and Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain — are seen in brief snippets.
Even so, By the People shows in behind-the-scenes and in-the-scenes footage about how a Senator became involved in a grassroots movement that morphed into a roller coaster of a campaign marked by its youth, soaring hopes and desire for political change– and how, in the end, Obama found himself giving a victory speech to a mind-boggling crowd on election night. It captures some poignant moments, etching out key campaign figures’ personalities so you see them as human beings with actual lives versus talking heads reciting talking points on Sunday morning TV. Meanwhile, it’s not hard to watch this and be charmed by Barack and Michelle Obama as people.
Love Obama or hate Obama? No matter: after viewing this you feel you now know a little more about how the man behind the speeches interacts and reacts.
By the People works on two levels but falls a bit short short on another.
As a piece of documentary film making, it’s world-class cinematic art, featuring sublime editing, quick-pacing, wonderful visuals — all the while communicating the perspective and emotions of Obama’s staff and supporters. As a chronicle of the campaign — the hopes so many had in Obama’s candidacy, the struggles, their surprise as they advanced and shocked as they suffered setbacks, suddenly having to deal with issues such as Obama’s associations with Rev. Jeremiah Wright and domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, and the sweat and commitment that goes into ANY campaign — it certainly succeeds.
Yet, it doesn’t totally succeed as a historical film because the bulk of it is about Obama deciding to run, and running for the nomination. Once he gets the nomination, the film seemingly moves faster, omitting what would have been a useful segment pegged to the economic meltdown and how it altered the campaign. It’s as if the filmmakers had to cut mercilessly to fit airtime so they decided to make big cuts from the time he got the nomination to his election. You could almost call John McCain’s role a “cameo.”
That aside, here are some moments that stuck out in our advance viewing of the film:
–Obama early in the campaign: “I love elections. It’s so much fun. It’s even more fun when you’re not on the ballot.”
–The passion, excitement sheer energy of of Obama’s supporters, including a baby boomer who supported RFK and says “there just hasn’t been anyone as exciting” for him to have gotten so involved until Obama.
–When Obama’ wins the Iowa caucuses. A staffer going: “Holy s—! Holy s—!” over and over, in shock.
–The youthfulness and ethnic diversity of Obama’s staff. At one point at a meeting Obama asks “Are any of the people here over 30?” (A good sign and bad sign for Obama in the future — such as 2010 elections, not a Presidential year when it may be harder to get out the youth vote). Obama bigwig David Axlerod declaring:”These kids are going to win it for us. They think they’re changing the world, God bless ’em.”
–Watching Obama campaign mavens David Axlerod and David Plouffe work on the campaign. What emerges: chemistry with their boss. Shots of campaign workers at all levels portray technical seriousness yet having some fun while it’s happening.
–Obama calling Hillary Clinton to congratulate her on her campaign wins.
–Shots of Michelle Obama and the Obama’s kids interacting away from the crowds. The operative: “playfulness.”
–A truly telling shot of Michelle Obama, almost teasingly trying to win over with humor a voter who is not inclined to vote for her husband.
–His phone call to his grandmother, who died before the election. (“I know this is hard on you. Well, I love you sweetie…”) Later, when she dies a day before his election and he gives a speech mentioning her, the camera captures tears trickling down his face as he tries not to acknowledge them.
–Shot of Obama doing debate prep with a stand in for John McCain. At one point, going over an answer, Obama says: “The only thing is, I don’t want to sound whiny about his lies…”
And, in the best tradition of true fly-in-the-wall moments, Norton and his crew manage to capture some moments that linger (no matter what your view of Obama today is) after the documentary has ended.
My favorite scene (which MSNBC’s Chris Matthews also noted is one of his as well) is the shot of a very serious 9 year old Obama volunteer (who is now 11 and has been profiled by the Chicago Sun Times) working the phones, getting a taste of American politics and keeping his cool:
And then there’s this — the moment when his staff hears the official news that Obama won. The joy and the genuine tears of Ronnie Cho a field campaign organizer who was featured throughout the film from the campaign’s earliest days, as he goes to call his Mom to tell her the news:
It’ll be interesting to see how this documentary will be perceived in coming years by historians after some more time has passed in Obama’s term.
It could be argued that the documentary is a great boon to Obama and the White House, reminding viewers and history) of how inspiration and perspiration led to the Demmies winning the 2010 election. But pundits on all sides now say they see a different Obama in governance mode — a far more deliberative, inside player, and perhaps ready to go along to get along Obama. To some on the left and right “Yes We Can!” has been replaced by “Like hell You Will!”
In that sense, the film will foster comparisons with the campaign hope and promise with the 2009 (and beyond) reality.
But, then, Obama’s journey isn’t over yet — so By the People could wind up as being an accurate foreshadow of Presidency yet to come, or yet one more example of an instance where passion and rhetoric soared higher than the governing reality which is weighted down by those big, fat cement bags called “political process,” “bureaucracy,” and “partisanship.”
It’s too early to tell. But, at the very least, By the People will help remind many Americans (including Obama himself) of what the historical campaign was originally all about.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.