Review of Hunting Of The President, The

Introduction

The second term of President Bill Clinton is now synonymous with Monica Lewinsky and a stained black dress. The US President was close to impeachment due to his affair with the young White House intern, which would have had major repercussions around the world. It turns out, however, that this was just the final chapter of a series of investigations that lasted over ten years.

There is a view that many people on the right of US politics were out to destroy Clinton for over 10 years. This film brings that story to life. Based on the long-titled book `The Hunting Of The President: The Ten Year Campaign To Destroy Bill And Hilary Clinton` by Joe Conason and Gene Lyons, the film sensibly eschews the longer title for something a little snappier.

The film relates how a young Bill Clinton first came to Washington and saw many Washington professionals at parties who seemed to be there for their own benefit. The young Clinton believed that people should only be there to serve the people and announced this on a few occasions. This led some bitter people to begin a 10-year campaign to stop and then end his rise to the highest office in the United States. Crucially, according to allies of Clinton, what Clinton actually meant was that the White House was there to serve the people. So everything that happened since was based on a misunderstanding of what a politician meant. Like that`s never happened before…

There`s a lot of detail contained in this film, so I`ll try and sum it up in as short a space as possible. The campaign to oust Bill Clinton started with the extra-marital accusations from Gennifer Flowers, backed up by some State Troopers and then by another girl Paula Jones. Behind this campaign was a group called the Arkansas Project, a full-time effort to dig up dirt on Clinton and get it published in the right wing press which still has a big hold over American opinion. Following this came the Whitewater investigation into land dealings by the Clintons and friends the McDougals, which ended in both death and prison time for their friends. At a point where the first Independent Counsel was about to acquit the Clintons of any wrongdoing in Whitewater, a decision was made to replace Robert Fiske with Kenneth Starr. Starr then presided over one of the most expensive investigations ever, ending up with only the afore-mentioned soiled dress. Briefly mentioned is how the Whitewater investigation also co-opted the suicide of former White House official Vince Foster and how rumours insinuating the Clinton`s were involved in murder began.

This is the history, how does it play on film?

Video

Mix of old news footage, still photographs and new interview footage. As you would expect with this mix, some footage is better than others. The director also seems to have this fetish for inserting old movie footage to illustrate points, which is fairly amusing at first but becomes tedious very quickly.

Audio

Narrated by Morgan Freeman, his authorative tones relate the overall picture in between the many talking heads. Soundtrack is in Dolby 2.0 Stereo, but it`s more than adequate for the mainly dialogue driven film. English, French and German subtitles are also provided.

Features

Bill Clinton Talks After The Premiere Screening - 41 minute talk on stage by the former US President directly after the showing of the film where he attempts to put the Starr investigation into context in American history. Whether you believe it all or not, he comes across as a good public speaker, talking off the cuff and complaining more about what others went through as opposed to railing against what happened to him.

Conclusion

We have seen a number of political films over the last year or so, mainly left wing or liberal, and all with the apparent aim of persuading people to vote George W. Bush out of office. Regardless of the artistic merit of all of these films, it would appear that the mass majority of US citizens were not swayed. I am constantly amazed at how aggressively the inhabitants of the US take their politics. You only have to look at the imdb board on this film to see how aggressively US politics is taken.

This film was not aimed specifically at the Republican President, but at people with political leanings the same way, although it is implied that both the right wing press and political staff of Capitol Hill used the conspiracy to further their own aims and effectively handcuff Clinton. Although there is a large amount of opinion contained in this film, the facts of film can`t really be disputed. There was a massive investigation into Clinton, and when all was said and done it can be argued that it was largely a complete waste of time.

Consisting mainly of left wing sympathisers or Clinton aides, the opinions expressed are generally supportive of Clinton and vehemently opposed to what Kenneth Starr tried to do with his investigation. It`s not all one-way traffic though as several close aides don`t attempt to cover up their disappointment with Clinton over the denouement with Lewinsky. There is a long list of people from the right wing of politics included in the credits who decided not to co-operate with the makers of this film. Unfortunately, you can`t really read too much into that as political filming in the US appears not to be that balanced, much as you may wish to believe that they were guilty of wrong-doing.

Two interesting faces appear throughout this film. The first is Larry Case, a self-styled Private Investigator with a penchant for recording phone conversations. Case just comes across as an attention seeker with delusions of grandeur and an inflated sense of his own importance. The second, though, is David Brock. Brock was a former investigative reporter who was at the centre of some of the more biased reporting into this affair and described by some as a Republican attack dog. Brock has come out the other side of Whitewater a changed man. I`m not sure if he has completely changed his politics, but this episode has made him more aware of right wing conspiracies and he has, of course, written the obligatory book on it.

What is most shocking about this film is the treatment of individuals by the railroading investigation led by Starr. There is talk about the disruption and threats to many Arkansas inhabitants by the investigative team, and clear abuses of power. No-one was more affected by this than Susan McDougal. McDougal refused to testify against Clinton and was jailed for contempt of court. Nothing too bad there you might think, despite her assertions that the investigative team wanted her to make up dirt on Clinton.

The shocking part is that McDougal was put onto a maximum security wing and made to wear a red dress as her prison uniform. The red dress is significant in this story as it signifies that the prisoner is a convicted child killer, and thus the attitude of inmates towards her was based on this visual attire. Her testimony, and that`s clearly what it is, in this film is shocking and stays with you long after you press the eject button. In fact, I`d be accurate to say that I will remember this longer than anything-else surrounding this film. I am amazed that people were able to get away with dishing out this treatment in a free and democratic country.

This is not a perfect film by any means as there is not counter-balancing view unless you count the converted Brock, but it stands as a coherent account of the biggest story in US politics during the 90`s. At just over an hour, it`s a little short and more detail could have been included to pad out this quite complicated story. The makers of this film are clearly left wing in their politics, but this still stands as valid document of the overall investigation into Bill Clinton before and during his reign in the White House.