 |  | Man, those Democrats are a noble lot |  |
As a political independent I really don't have much of a problem believing that the Republicans in Congress are the uncaring, sneaky bunch of politicians they are portrayed as in this film. What I don't buy at all, though, is the Democrats in Congress being the truthful, caring, altruistic bunch they're portrayed as here. For me, this film simply confirms the fact that the Hollywood elites are no more than a wing of the Democrat Party when it comes to political movies. The premise of this movie is, in a word, ridiculous. Pity really, as the acting and production are both pretty good. Even liberals should be offended by the simplistic pandering offered up in this pathetic outing. Two thumbs down.
August 4, 2008| | | A remarkably unpleasant and dishonest film | |
If you like American Theocracy, you will probably like this film. It plays to every stereotype, every simple-minded idea, every revisionist fantasy, every insulting smear and dishonest thing that the left has uttered for the past 50 years. Now, don't get me wrong, it skillfully packages them in a lovely box with lots of pretty wrapping paper (recyclable, of course!), ornate bows, and a lovely card, but inside, it is unequivocally a steaming pile of horse puckey.
Others here have dissected the deceit and dishonesty rampant throughout this manure pile. But let me add one more. When our poor, unfairly maligned female is blindsided in an interview, she walks off. And we are to admire her fortitude. When the lying and creepy bad guy is publicly chastised by his President, who calls him a traitor for disagreeing, he walks out, and we are to see his walk of shame as the perfect summation of his pitiful little life. Wow--talk about hypocrisy!
Personally, I'd love to see Hollywood tackle a real confirmation hearing. Show us how Robert Bork or Clarence Thomas had their character murdered and then disemboweled, a tactic previously unknown in Washington. (What Democrat has ever received such an attack?) Come on, Hollywood, show how a real person standing up for what he believes will get the machete wielding liars with crazed eyes after him!
No, that would be too tough. Rather, let's show a nice feminist atheist, whose poor little son is being indoctrinated by religious crazies to spout that baby Jesus created top spin, who believes we need military might only to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries, who, quite wrongly, believes that the never-mentioned-in-the-Constitution separation of church and state is to protect the state from fanaticism, who, I suppose, believes that babies aborted but living should be allowed to die, all the while with stirring patriotic music soaring behind her. The aroma is overwhelming! I'm choking!
July 22, 2008I guess this came out in 01, but watching it in 2008 is interesting, now that Hillary Clinton's campaign is over. This film is over the top in portraying partisanship, and way too preachy about the main character's rights as a woman to be treated like a man. Jeff Bridges is entertaining as the president. Hell, he should probably run. Given recent history like the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings, and such fiascos as the Bush nomination of Harriet Myers to the Supreme Court, the goings on in this movie are not entirely implausible.
June 22, 2008This was a really good movie. The casting was just perfect (even Christian Slater who was the weakest of the selections). I found the story very interesting and the performances were fantastic. I recommend it to any intelligent film fan.
January 8, 2008Rush to your DVD store and get this film at once. It is a duty, a must, a compulsory mandatory obligation for any free citizen in this world to watch this film, at least twice to recognize the mugs and the characters and understand all the allusions. Launched in 2000 to prepare Al Gore's presidency, it came too early because Russia is not the only country where elections are manipulated to paint up the result some want though they have no right to get it. The film is perfect in the present situation if you believe in democracy, the Shrine of Democracy in Mount Rushmore that any political assembly, caucus, council, committee must - not should, I said must - be in a democratic country. If you believe in the right for every and each citizen to decide on their private life and use of their brains and bodies. And it is time, high time this country finally democratically decides to entrust supreme power to those who are not and don't want to be only men, white if possible and by necessity, who do not accept to harbor guns and weapons in their homes, or to negate the rights for women to do what they want with their life and body. Those who do not want women to be negated the right to choose. And above all those who consider private life to be just that, private, and who oppose those who are always looking for perverted and perverse private events, made up and invented if necessary, to discredit those they don't like. It is high time the victims of that insistent and permanent, still true and alive, discrimination against more than half the population of the USA comes to an end. And for the first time in US history, Time magazine saw what some possible roads to freedom could be and put up on the front page of a recent issue Obama's picture with the title of this very film, The Contender, across the page. Let me congratulate Ted Turner and his successors. Yes it is time for a woman and a Black to become the hope and future of this country in which we are so proud to believe in spite of all the imperialistic reflexes some of its leaders develop as if it were their second nature, or maybe even their first nature. It is well known Washington did cut the cherry tree and did not tell a lie about it, even before he did it. That is not true of everyone indeed, and some are definitely both guilty and irresponsible in front of human history. Let's hope all the fundamentalists, from the communistic, anarchistic or just old-fashioned Trotskyite left to the authoritarian, militaristic or plainly conservative right will be pushed aside and the reasonable who know life is a constant creation through work, learning, exchanging knowledge and goods, experience and expertise, and many other creative elements. In our societies some dead individuals were neglected and overlooked when burying time had come and they are still roaming around among us the living, un-dead as they are and be sure dead and un-alive un-dead they are. That's all the bad future I am dreaming humanity will offer themselves in the next few years, in the USA or in China, or in Europe, democracy in our homes and gardens and public squares. But remember a Shrine of Democracy has to be built in every home, in every school, in every village, in every neighborhood, and that will take more time and courage from everyone of us than just bouncing up and down in our seats and banging over and over again our hands on the tables, humming and repeating "Red Alert! Red Alert!" like some jackrabbits in a cabbage patch.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines
December 4, 2007More reviews at Amazon.com ...
Daily Birthdays
(168 reviews)
