The Presidential campaign has dragged on practically as long as a full Congressional term. At the moment, the goalposts for when the end might come are standing at next Tuesday. This round of election is what everybody's talking about. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!! And so it seemed like a good time to look at movie elections.
Madonna played Eva Peron in the movie. Footage of the real Argentinian woman the story was based on is in this one. (And, do you know who's singing?)
Because the terms "Nazi" and "fascism" get thrown around too lightly, and because one worries about tendencies to that direction also, it's good to check in with the real thing. For that? Leni Reifenstal, Hitler's personal filmmaker. Before becoming a brilliant filmmaker, she was an actress. Her career is proof that you can be on the wrong side and still be brilliant and talented. And, remember, Hitler may have been a dictator, but he rose to power by being elected, fair and square.
Sometimes, the dynamics of the election for the most powerful position in the world do remind me of those in a middle school cafeteria. High school elections are found in the movies, too: addressed as classic satire in Election with Reese Witherspoon, whereas Napoleon Dynamite takes more of an ironic slacker approach. Too partisan to include the spoof in a "time out" diary like FNATM, but wickedly funny, is this spoof about Hillary Clinton's "inner Tracy Flick". Here's the link.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (embedding disabled by request) shows us what a filibuster oughta be, from that legendary Jimmy Stewart character - an honest man who accidentally ends up in the U.S. Senate.
Martin Scorcese's Gangs of New York gives a glimpse at an old-time political machine in all its brutal glory.
FEDERAL ELECTIONS
- Head of State features Chris Rock and Bernie Mac in an improbable election that puts an unlikely fellow in the White House. Liberal Warren Beatty took his shot at the subject in Bulworth. Another buffoonish (and in this case, intentionally Dubya-like candidate is played by Chris Cooper in John Sayles's Silver City.
- When it comes to the Manchurian Candidate, stick with the scary original version with Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury. The new one with Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep just doesn't pack the same punch. Tim Robbins is also a creepy conservative folksinger candidate (for the Senate) in Bob Roberts.
- Kevin Kline impersonates an incapacitated president in Dave. In the end, the experience inspires him to run for City Council.
- Primary Colors is based on Joe Klein's novel (by "anonymous") which draws upon the Clinton years. With John Travolta and Emma Thompson as the proto-Clintons.
- Wag the Dog is about going to Rovian lengths to construct a narrative favorable to a politician. Another President in trouble conjures up a war against our neighbors to the north in Michael Moore's Canadian Bacon.
- The Candidate is played by Robert Redford, getting packaged almost beyond recognition. Joan Allen plays a vice presidential prospect who is smeared in The Contender.
- Those of us who came of age in the 1960s had our psyches indelibly etched with the Kennedy Assassinations. Bobby is about that day in 1968, but never shows the Senator from New York - instead following the stories of bystanders who were also shot. There will likely always be conspiracy theories about the death of JFK - Oliver Stone made a movie out of some of 'em.
- Ever-colorful Lousiana politics brings us a few spicy entries: Paul Newman as Earl Long in Blaze, and two different versions of Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men - 1959 with Broderick Crawford in a fictional character; 2006 with Sean Penn as the Huey Long-like character.
- Another classic about corruption is All the President's Men, a docudrama based on Woodward & Bernstein's take on the Watergate story. Here's a bit of political trivia: Ex-con Watergate felon Donald Segretti was Orange County (CA) chair for John McCain's Presidential bid in 2000. Haven't checked if he is part of the Arizona Senator's current team. Lest we forget, Segretti's election dirty tricks ("ratfucking") were at the core of the Watergate scandal.
- Speaking of corruption, Chinatown includes a Los Angeles water hearing: The nuts and bolts of local politics, especially in the arid west.
ELECTIONS ABROAD
They do have elections in other countries, though they tend not to make such a mammoth production of them as in the US. One is House of Cards, wherein Susannah Harker (best known as Miss Jane Bennett in the BBC's 1995 Pride and Prejudice), an investigative reporter, comes up dead when she gets too close to some dirt about a prospective Prime Minister. In the docudrama category, and also set in the UK, Tony Blair plays his political cards right when Princess Diana is killed in a car crash just after he comes into office in The Queen.
Some places, there's censors to be gotten around. Secret Ballot, set in Iran, circumvents the authorities by using an allegorical, symbolic tale. Hak se wui (Election) is a Chinese entry about a "democratic" election amongst an organized crime group. And then, as YouTubed above, there's the Evita extravaganza.
Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine manage a long overdue transfer of South African power in Mandela and DeKlerk.
There must a few of 'em I missed. And don't forget parts of the political process once the election is over (like Chinatown). Last but not least, don't forget the mojo!