The Hunting of the President

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03/28/2013 Documentary about the witch hunt Bill Clinton was subjected to during his time as President of the United States. The persecution was extended to his wife Hillary too. They were political figures that didn't fit the standards of conventional politicians, and lots of people hated them enough to make up blatant lies and lots of other people were bold enough to print them. It includes interviews to friends and antagonists and collects evidence from all across the board. I knew journalists were trying to dig up some dirt on him, that's the way it has been for other presidents and powerful characters in the USA. What I didn't know was the relentless hunting and the extent of the web of lies that was spun from the republican lobbies to the national press and even the courts of law, absolutely crazy bizarre arguments were printed without a single shred of truth and nobody even blinked. It is a thoroughly researched film but sometimes it feels a bit too heavy, too much information is thrown at you, too many characters were involved in this shameful plot and sometimes it is too confusing to follow who was who and who told what. It is the sort of documentary that opens your eyes unfortunately it is far too complex for the ordinary Joe. Ultimately the message of the movie is that we give too much power to the media, television and press are capable of manipulating and twisting the facts far too easily and without contest and that shouldn't be allowed. See more 05/30/2012 Fascinating documentary. I always find it hard to rate documentaries based on grounds of accuracy, but this is certainly a good story, told well, full of great characters. See more 11/12/2010 I was not aware while it was going on that most of the things Clinton was being investigated for were such Bullshit. This film is incredibly intriguing. Watch this film and you will see as I did that Kenneth Starr is one of films great villains. See more 10/20/2009 A cracking documentary about the restless investigation that cost around 50 million dollars with no results. it's a shocking and thought provoking film that makes you wonder why we as human beings act in such way. The most shocking thing to me is how much corruption the US government has shown through the years yet the people of America still stand behind, how has there been no revolution or an uprise within it's people yet is beyond me. They talk about communism but I have seen, read and heard far worse than any communist country have done. The only cons is that the way the documentary was done was slightly boring and at some parts confusing but the truth makes up for that. See more 08/01/2009 No new insights, but the doc is more effective than not by methodically and chronologically establishing the attempted hit job on Bill Clinton's presidency, albeit in a way that visually and in story terms isn't always sparkling with interest. See more 06/19/2009 Interesting for Those Who Wouldn't Be Interviewed When I started at Evergreen in 1998, one of my new friends informed me, in grave tones, about the murders Clinton had been responsible for back in Arkansas, when he was governor. They sounded so over-the-top that I simply couldn't believe they would possibly be true. I didn't argue the point, though, because I didn't know enough about it. In the years since, I have become steeped in conspiracy theory. I know at least a dozen groups who killed JFK. I know about the explosive re-bar planted at the WTC. (Oh, don't you wish I were making that up?) I know about the wheat we traded to the Soviets so they wouldn't rat us out about Apollo. I know now where to research the bogus claims, and I know now how obvious some of them are. I'm also, I think, less polite on the subject. Heck, at the time, the only conspiracy theories of which I was aware were the Kennedy ones. To be fair, there couldn't be WTC ones yet, because it [i]was[/i] 1998. But I didn't know, couldn't imagine, that people honestly doubted the Moon landings. The funny thing was that my friend still actually liked Clinton quite a lot and didn't understand the Lewinsky thing any better than I did. I suspect every politician, no matter their stance, has a group of crazies who want to do whatever they can to bring them down. Look at the crazy "Obama is a secret Muslim who isn't even a US citizen" people. (Yes, I actually know one of those.) However, I think Clinton is where they really started getting going on a national scale. It's the ease of communication, I guess. At any rate, the extreme right wing took a real estate scandal where no one ever really proved wrongdoing and turned it into a media circus that involved a sex scandal the special counsel wasn't even supposed to be investigating. Oh, sure. Clinton lied under oath on the subject, though I just read an interesting legal argument that it wasn't actually perjury. (Turns out it only counts as perjury if the lie is at all relevant to the case.) The man was not perfect, but there were a lot of people who had small, petty reasons to go after him in the way they did. Now, you may have noticed a slight left-wing bias in my reviews. I won't deny it. What would be the point? But I'd like to think that there are Republicans out there who consider the whole thing a waste of public funds--and time. Just as I, in fact, think it's an abuse of power for any boss to have that kind of relationship with any employee, and how much worse when that boss is as powerful as Clinton was. It's hard for the employee to be at all objective in that situation. And if they'd gone after him on that, I might have had more sympathy for the cause. Other than that, though I think the whole thing was only really the business of three people--Bill, Hillary, and Monica. The fact that it suddenly wasn't, I think, has a lot to do with a changing perception of how much privacy the President has and a peculiar American morality. It also, let's be honest, made the man an awfully easy target. The man is no dummy. He is just, at times, lacking in some basic common sense. The film itself also has a slight left-wing bias. No one will ever doubt that, not least because the special features on the DVD include a segment of Clinton himself speaking at the premiere of the thing. However, in the credits, it lists people they requested interviews with who denied them. It's amazing how many of the names are of figures who spent eight years fighting Clinton, actively trying to get him out of office. Or, if not the full eight, a [i]very[/i] vocal fraction thereof. I like to think that shows balance of another kind, though I've no doubt people will disagree with me on the subject. I do, however, think the film did a good job of showing how intense the Republican drive was. They claimed the investigation was "independent," but if you look at the names and backgrounds of those involved, it appears that "independent" is a synonym for "Republican." As with most politically themed movies, I doubt this will actually change anyone's mind about anything. Except possibly one thing. In certain circles, I think Clinton has a reputation as someone who coasted on charm. Not unlike the reputation of our last President, frankly. However, if you sit and watch that segment of Clinton talking, it's very obvious that he knows a heck of a lot about history and politics. He doesn't come off as scripted--in fact, he response to at least one person in the audience, and unless he's pulling a Uri Geller, that can't be scripted. However, he is able to make clear points with historical background seemingly on the fly. Our Presidents have all been scripted for an awfully long time. The good ones, the best-spoken ones, are often the ones whose notes you can see on various drafts of speeches making slight alterations--but it becomes very clear that the speech as a whole was written by someone else. The last President who famously wrote all his own words was Lincoln; the office of Presidential speechwriter hasn't been around much past that. But it's clear that Clinton can talk well. It's clear that his education made an impression on him. See more Read all reviews

The Hunting of the President

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