Customer Reviews

Journeys With George

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A must see movie. If you are at all interested in the inner-workings of a national political campaign and if you would like to see Dubya letting his gaurd down, you need JWG. I think that the Bush supporters will like him even more after seeing this and the Bush-haters out there will hate him even more. This film is very well put together.

I hesitate to call this a documentary, it's more a well-edited video diary, and should be judged as such. George Bush is humanized to a great degree, in a way we heard about but rarely ever saw (or see) in the never-ceasing effort to mythologize the man.

The relationship between the Governor and Pelosi is kind of sweet and unpretentious. Their encounter over her California absentee ballot, where GWB2 gives her some really amusing politician schtick about why she should vote for him is a great scene. The "Newsweek Man" flirtation theme was also great. One gets the sense that a lot of this press pool was very young, fairly inexperienced, and not nearly as sophisticated as they thought they were. The segues with the Texas print reporters (who, I think, were later responsible for the critical Rove bio "Bush's Brain") were also interesting, they actually knowing something about politics and about Bush. One gives an impromptu monologue analogizing Republican campaigns with a baloney sandwich that is priceless.

One of the most noticeable features is the absence of much real journalism being practiced by the press pool. The closest we get to that is the late revelation of Bush's DUI, and we see Karen Hughes skillfully handling that. She is rarely in the film, but comes across as impressive, especially vis-a-vis Rove's pomposity. But in actuality, the press pool spent most of the time going through the motions, messing around, and being bored in an extended tour. I think a lack of curiosity became their most prevalent trait.

So really, as is seen from the evident relief of other reviewers, this isn't by any means a Bush-bashing movie. Pelosi's liberal pedigree is clear from the start, and actually shapes her friendship with the Governor. He's a lot quicker than she is too, and she knows it. While there is a lot of tongue-in-cheek sequences poking fun at Bush-as-campaigner, most of the irony is directed at the travelling campaign circus, and we get a sense from Pelosi that she thinks of Bush and herself in a similar way: as sort of accidental participants in a fairly surreal process.

So Bush Fans, ever wary of a devious liberal media out to persecute them, can rest easy. JOURNEYS WITH GEORGE, in the end, really critiques the pseudo-journalism of the press pool, and its evident mediocrity. If anything, it goes far to puncture one cherished myth, that the press is of some coordinated liberal conspiracy to destroy their heroes. That requires competence and will. Pelosi's only departure from utter docility was to question Bush about Texas executions, and she quickly retreated to docility after that. One reviewer below apparently sees this sheep-tendency of campaign journalists, "knowing their bounds," as their duty. I tend to think a press obedient to the powerful is anti-thetical to the whole profession, and Pelosi's diary here is one example of why hundreds of millions of dollars are used to run campaigns that the majority of the country is only dimly aware of.

This is a must see for Democrats and Republicans. Among other things, it gives incredible insight into what happens between a presidential candidate and his press circuit, and how that relationship can be manipulated to produce the candidate's desired results. This was well worth seeing when it first came out, and worth purchasing to share with others.

Future historians of our era will puzzle over George W. Bush. How did a man of seemingly modest gifts and achievements find himself at the helm of the world's most powerful country? And why did he behave so strangely, alternating between grave purposefulness and breathtaking immaturity? Alexandra Pelosi's documentary of her travels with the 2000 Bush campaign will provide useful clues for future archeologists.

Though it is a political film, it contains almost nothing about issues or ideology, and only brief glimpses of tactics. But it is unmatched as a portrait of the sociology of the traveling campaign press corps and its simultaneously symbiotic/antagonistic relationship with the candidate it covers.

At first, Bush appears as a likeable, bantering prankster--more of a master of ceremonies than an aspirant to lead the free world. Like the fraternity president he once was, Bush knows how to create an atmosphere of fun. At the same time, with a slight turn in the mood or setting, he can be an alarming clown. Bush's lack of gravitas momentarily appears to be the central subject of the film.

But it is not. Bush gradually reveals himself to be a more subtle operator. "I am a student of human nature," he tells Pelosi, and the claim rings absolutely true. His jokes and jabs are anything but uncalculated--there is always an edge, either to put the recipients off-balance or to pull them closer to Bush. He uses this jocularity as a form of seduction, as does his campaign at large. The fun in the back of the press plane is not a random phenomenon but an elaborately staged bonding ritual.

Why no 5th star? Pelosi only hints at the larger implications of Bush's seduction of his traveling coterie of reporters. Did they begin to link Bush's success with their own career prospects (i.e., four years as chief White House correspondent)? If so, why didn't the same thing happen with the much more hostile pack of reporters who covered Gore? And how did this shape the result of the election? These questions remain unanswered in a documentary that remains unapologetically within the campaign's "bubble."

This movie is great! It captures the wild pace of a presidential race. While Director Alexandra Pelosi is a liberal Democrat, she presents a fair and balanced view of George W. Bush while he was a candidate, and while he could be more relaxed and less scripted than he is now as President.

Regardless of your politics, this movie is a joy to watch. It is a must-have for any political junkie.

Thank goodness it is now coming out on DVD. Don't miss it!

(Based upon reviewer seeing VHS tape, and not DVD.)

At the end of the year-long tour, a vaguely depressed Richard Wolffe muses that the Gore press corps went a lot harder on Gore, their critical look at the candidate coming through clearly in their stories about his campaign. "We spent a lot of time on trivial things," Wolffe says, "frankly because Bush charmed the pants off of us."

It got me wondering, re-evaluating Bush in a different light. Maybe he is a much more shrewd politician than I ever thought him to be. I always thought of him as a frat boy/puppet who did what he was told by his elders (Karen Hughes, Dick Cheney, etc.). But how much of this "charm" we see in the movie is calculated? How much effort went into charming the press away from looking closer, seeing Bush's dogma, his lack of insight or reflection, the intensity of his religious fervor which would eventually move this country away from the value of "separation of church and state." We see a flirty, goofy, 50-something frat boy who charms everyone around him. While people are laughing and winking at this charismatic fellow, he manipulates a win for the U.S. presidency. You watch this movie either laughing in surprise at his playfulness, or shaking your head in disgust at his childishness, but you don't see much of what emerges in the next two terms of his presidency. I found it a fascinating look at how politics and politicians work, underneath the facade.

It's hard to think about George W. Bush pre-9/11 and pre-Iraq. Both of those events have had such a huge impact on his presidency that what happened before them seems like a very very long time ago.

I think that this was a great film not only because of the rawness of it, but because it showed the relationship between politics and the media in a way that no other film or book has done, at least in my opinion. Yes, Bush was arguably the star of the movie, but seeing how he interacted with the media was more interesting than the campaign itself. Watching him with the reporters, I could see that this was part of the reason he won (yes, there were many reasons...Florida...). This film couldn't have been made with Gore; it simply would not have worked.

Looking back, I am struck at how comfortable and jovial he seemed with the media back then. His administration today is one of the most secretive and hostile towards the press that has ever come along. I think he would be in much better shape if he looked back to this film and took some notes.

All in all, this is a great film. Anyone who is even remotely interested in politics/presidency/campaigns, etc would enjoy it I believe.

I just re-watched this film and now that George Bush is out of office I think every voter in America should have to watch it. This is an artifact of a different era.

Journeys with George is the first time I had the pleasure of viewing an Alexandra Pelosi documentary. I've seen a lot of docs, but no one that I know has ever achieved such an intimate look at a president (let alone any other significant personage). On the surface Alexandra seemed naive and inexperienced while all the time she was neither and in the process of winning George's friendship she was able to capture on video a most intimate portrait of the man who is well on his way to destroying our nation.

This is a film mainly about the press corp attached to a political leader while he campaigns. I find it quite interesting how they follow the man around as he goes from place to place.

It well put together.