Product Details

• Actors: Will Lyman
• Directors: Michael Kirk
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: PBS
• DVD Release Date: March 31, 2009
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001Q7JM28
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #207,286 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Public Media Distribution Release Date: 03/18/2009 Run time: 60 minutes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Typical HIGH QUALITY report on Obama's Political Rise from Frontline, April 10, 2009

By 

Steven I. Ramm "Steve Ramm "Anything Phon... (Phila, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Frontline: Dreams of Obama (DVD)

This episode of PBS's highly rated "Frontline" series aired just a few days after the Inauguration in January 2009. It begins and ends with his acceptance speech on the night he became President of the United States. In between we learn about his Law School career (not much is covered in his younger years), and his entry into politics in Chicago. There is time spent on his dealing with Rev. Wright and his campaign for the Senate in Illinois against incumbent Bobby Rush. His campaign against John McCain gets only a minute or two and his campaign against Hilary Clinton gets barely a sentence.

Recent comments by his staff (David Axelrod) and fellow Harvard Law alumni are blended with writers for Time, New York Times, New Yorker and Rolling Stone and new footage.

All in all, it presents a balanced portrait of the President's rise through the political stream from his college days until he took office in January.

There are no special features.

Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Run-Down of Obama's Bid for the Presidency, May 14, 2010

By 

Michael A. Saxton (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Frontline: Dreams of Obama (DVD)

This documentary mainly focuses on the more recent events that led to Obama's decision to run for president and the decisions that were made for the campaign that got him there, which is about 95% of it. Only about 5% gets into his past (childhood, college years, etc), the democratic primaries, etc.

The pitfalls and perils of the campaign as well as the opportunities and creative solutions that were developed are covered here. One thing is made clear, the desire to be president was in his head long before most of the United States even really knew about him.

Whether or not you are a fan of President Obama, this is still interesting to watch. It is only an hour, so it's not extremely comprehensive, more like a summary which isn't unusual for documentaries such as this. One might even learn a few things about running for political office!