All of the dialogue is clearly audible and you occasionally get a sense of depth from the busy war room setting.
The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 is clean and efficient though hardly dynamic, and is surely not meant to be. It still looks a bit soft and grainy, but the image is strong if not eye-popping throughout. Filmed in 16mm and mixing in ample news footage, “The War Room” isn’t exactly a prime candidate for a high-def transfer. The film is presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Oh well, a documentary filmed in the moment is best appreciated the same way, and it’s a pretty fun trip even if the trip didn’t take us where we wanted to go.
It’s somewhat less easy to forget that, after a campaign that milked “Don’t let them give tax breaks to their rich cronies” for all it was worth, Clinton’s presidency witnessed a further acceleration in the transfer of wealth to the elite. It’s so intoxicating that sometimes it’s easy forget we are, in effect, watching a couple of pitch men selling that year’s newest brand of soap to a fully researched, poked and prodded public ready and eager to respond to every tag line tossed at them. As an added bonus, we get to see the earliest stages of one of the most bizarre and terrifying-if-you-ever-stop-to-think-about-it romances of modern times, the courtship of James Carville and Mary Matalin, then working as deputy campaign manager for George H.W. From Gennifer Flowers to Ross Perot to “Printergate,” the flow is relentless and the mobile cameras immerse the viewer in it all. The campaigners are all fully immersed in the moment, and every minor issue feels like it could not only make or break the campaign, but could change the course of Western civilization… until a few hours later when they’ve moved on to the next epochal sound bite or bombshell discovery. The film is packed with nifty incidents that reflect the ebb and flow of a campaign that can plan all it wants, but still has to react to unexpected events, something Clinton provided in unending supply. Stephanopolous (whose office was at a separate location) prefers to lurk on the periphery, but is capable of taking center stage when needed to defend his candidate, and his youthful idealism provides one the film’s most moving moments when he all but says, “Gee willikers, did we really just win?” Carville comes off as a dashing hero bursting with unflagging energy and righteous charm, which should be a lesson in the power of film to distort.
#WAR ROOM BLU RAY MOVIE#
With two pre-fabbed movie stars already in hand, Pennebaker, Hegedus and their camera crew just had to follow in their wake (easier said than done, of course), partly at the Democratic convention but mostly at war room meetings. At least by bartenders who didn’t melt under the gaze of his puppy-dog eyes. His firebrand personality and mastery of the good ol’ country-boy quote made him the easiest sell a film crew could hope for, and also set the mid-40s veteran up as the perfect contrast to the handsome, and quietly dogged George Stephanopolous, Clinton’s communications directly who had recently turned 30 but was probably used to still getting carded at local bars. They were restricted almost entirely to the titular War Room where, by a happy coincidence, they discovered a couple of stars who would burn every bit as bright on camera as the man from Hope, Arkansas.Ĭampaign manager James Carville was already well-known as the Ragin’ Cajun among politicos, but was largely an unknown factor the public. Only as a backup plan did they seek permission to film Clinton’s campaign team, and only through a minor miracle (and perhaps a little ego stroking) did they achieve that. Cutler, Wendy Ettinger, and Frazer Pennebaker) had originally hoped to follow Clinton across the country, but were denied access to the candidate. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, and producers R.J. Perhaps it could not have been made any other way. It’s a blast to watch, but a superficial experience that’s limited on insight. “The War Room” eliminated what must have been months of boredom, a long slog of volunteers copying flyers, crunching numbers and placing phone calls, and stitches together only the moments of adrenaline and caffeine-fueled excitement at several crucial junctures. An old saying about poker tournaments is that they consist of hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. It makes for an undeniably exciting film, but also, I suspect, a fairly shoddy portrait of what it’s like to work on a presidential campaign.
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