During the 2000 Presidential campaign, Al Gore, a movie fan in general and a fan of
Being John Malkovich in particular, asked Spike Jonze to come down to his house for a day to follow him and his family around with a camera. Spike brought his tiny handheld video camera and came up with a portrait so real, so humanizing, and so powerful that of course Gore's advisors had to bury it.
You should all see it now.
I hope we can spread the word about this far and wide.
The video is now available for purchase on a DVD compilation called
Wholphin made by the McSweeney's folks.
But you can watch the 13-minute video on Google video right now.
I've read a lot around here recently by people who crave Gore's presence in the Oval Office. Spreading the word about this video is an easy way to get people to know Gore better. I believe this video can build support for him as a potential President by getting people to know him better as a person.
The documentary was shown at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles in 2000, but not as part of the TV coverage, and it was never shown again. It is a pity because, as the Wholphin editors write:
Everyone who's seen this movie thinks it humanizes Gore in precisely the way he needed to be humanized. He got tagged as being cold and robotic, and this film shows him to be warm, very genuine, passionate even. There are a lot of people who think that if this had been shown on primetime, it could have really made a difference in the election.
I completely agree. At the very least, 1000 additional people in Florida would have voted for Gore after seeing this video. Let's get thousands to watch it now, so the groundswell builds for Gore.
Hat tip to grimc, who diared about this 6 weeks ago. But now that the video is online, I wanted you all to watch it right away.