The War Room

On paper this should be great, a behind the scenes look at an important political campaign. And it's actually quite candid, within its scope. My biggest problem is that the documentary is neither about the ideas behind a political campaign, there's very little policy talk, nor is it about the actual logistics and scope of running a campaign. It's about Carville and Co. venting and strategizing about optics and media coverage and the general horserace view of politics I despise.

What's really remarkable is how little anyone was actually talking about policy, even at the highest levels of the campaign. I'm not sure if leaving out policy talk was a decision by the documentarians or simply the reality in the campaign office, but I can't remember a single instance in which James Carville talked for more than a few seconds about domestic or foreign policy. Generating talking points and digging up dirt on Bush was the bulk of their work. Americans, that should terrify you.

Extraordinarily intimate recounting of the back-room of the '92 Clinton campaign is fixated on the strategy (or "War") of the campaign, and wisely leaves commentary on policies and ideals by the wayside; while you believe Carville has genuine passion for his candidate, you feel his compulsion to win would be the same, regardless of his goal! Just fascinating to see these people at work and at such close quarters; clearly made by Clinton fans, but hagiographic elements are kept to a minimum.

Disappointing, it's a series of pep speeches and PR minutiae without context. Gives you no reason to be invested in policies or personalities as there aren't any presented.

Finally I can bust out all these Bill Clinton jokes I've been saving for 20 years:

Carville and Stephanopoulos certainly made for an 'odd' couple, but they sure were smart operators who got the job done. This is as much a character study of James and George as it is a docuementing of the campaign that made Bill Clinton the President of the United States. At times, it looks and feels like a Fred Wiseman film (don't read this as meaning cinéma vérité) - seemingly mundane meetings 'coming to life' - which is reason enough to watch this film.

It's a good behind the scenes look but a disappointing documentary since I didn't get much of the context of the campaign. Fun to watch Carville rant.

Glosses over a lot of drama and misses some key points of the campaign entirely, but it's still worth seeing, even if disappointing. It wasn't the exhaustive documentary I was expecting (and at only 96 minutes, you shouldn't be expecting that kind of movie either). If you do watch it, you'll enjoy: * Al Gore speaking with passion for once * Listening to James Carville rant, rave, and formulate great talking points * Noticing how much John Stockton and Stephanopulous resemble each other

bu tarz işlerde çerçeveleme mutlaka problemli olacaktır ama bi kampanyayı bu kadar dar anlatmak bir anlamda genel bir kampanya filmi yapma olanağı da sunuyor carville öncülüğündeki ekiple. işin arka planına bakmak anlamında 92 özelinde farklı bir şey sunduğu söylenemez - ama tam da bu sebeple genel bir kampanya filmi olmayı da daha çok başarıyor. tam olarak hiçbir yerde olmayıp da *doğru* yerde olmaya çalışan adayı da bu açıdan iyi simgeliyor sanki.

Viewed September 11, 2016. Pennebaker and Hegedus manage to work a paltry amount of footage into a film that is compelling, funny and insightful. Fly-on-the-wall filmmaking at its finest. Runs through places and events with reckless abandon, but ties together beautifully. The crew was given limited access to Clinton, but it's hard to care when you get to absorb James Carville's starmaking performance (This may be a documentary, but Carville definitely puts on a show).

It's pretty interesting but had I not known about the '92 campaign before hand I wouldn't have known what was going on half of the time. I just wish it was a little more in depth.

If you've seen Don't Look Back, it's a lot like that. It has almost no editorial presence whatsoever. I will say that it does assume previous knowledge of the 1992 campaign, which some of us who don't remember it may lack. But I mean it's made pretty competently, it's not impossible to fill in those blanks.

With fervour and aggression these disgusting people spend millions of dollars and billions of man hours. A clear example of american 'values over actions' thinking. By behaving as if it actually matters which lying sociopath gets elected they can keep pretending they live in something other than a plutocracy.

I liked the parts where they dissect speeches to show how every word has an impact especially in something like politics. Always thought people like Rove/Carville were more interesting than a lot of the candidates they worked for ever were for documentary purposes.

Man, this makes me miss the '90's.... not least because there were still at least vestiges of norms of behavior in politics (and life in general) then. I was not yet following politics (at all) in those years, so this filled in quite a few details I had missed. I also had not realized that Rob Lowe's character in "The West Wing" was clearly modeled on George Stephanopoulos, whose intelligence and passion are immensely appealing.

A great example of cinema verite and the power of media in politics which, I suppose, has only increased since Bill C.

85.000.

It's Clintonrific!

Incredible movie. No wonder Carville and Stephanopoulos went on to become television pundits, considering they are such natural screen presences.

A fairly sanitized accounting of events.

Filmen är ger intressanta inblickar i en politisk kampanj. Den är ibland rolig och någon gång rörande. Men den är också svårtillgänglig och förutsätter kunskaper om den amerikanska politiken anno 1992 som få svenska statsvetarprofessorer har. (Något som jag kan intyga).@BAM

The war room estreava há 30 anos no Festival de New York. Tem que ter coragem pra encerrar uma noite de sexta com um documentário político sobre aquelas bostas de campanhas presidenciais estadunidenses, é um ótimo doc, mas só quero que esse povo se exploda, mesmo que eu tenha que dar o braço a torcer que foi bom o Clinton derrotar o Bush pai. Plus: BRASIL MENCIONADO. Com Cid Moreira e tudo, até fui ver se essa teúda e manteúda da ditadura ainda tava viva. YTS.

I simultaneously love and loathe election season, and part of that is my fascination with how campaigns are run. Seeing Carville and Stephanopoulos in action is priceless insight into the process, especially as we run through another Clinton campaign in 2016.

It looks like: Those were great times, when you were able to believe in something.

Easy to see why so many viewers took to Carville and Stephanopoulos as "personalities", harder to understand how any could have come away with a remotely positive impression of the American electoral process. Neither here nor there perhaps, but it's hard for me to get excited about the "objective" procedural details of a horse's ass race (the goal being to make the other guy look like one for one more day than you do). I did like seeing Carville ream out a WaPorter. And run game on Mary Matalin.