The War Room
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- This page is about the documentary film; for the video game, see War Room.
The War Room is an American documentary film made in 1993 about Bill Clinton's campaign for President of the United States in 1992.
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[edit] Synopsis
The War Room shows the behind-the-scenes activity in Bill Clinton's campaign for President of the United States in 1992. The film is named after the campaign's "war room"--command center--from which the effort was directed.
The film crew, led by husband and wife directors D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, was given unprecedented access behind the scenes starting with the 1992 Democratic National Convention, with the story of the primaries constructed from news footage.
The film focuses on the campaign's lead strategist, James Carville, and the communications director George Stephanopoulos. Campaign manager David Wilhelm refused to participate. Famous moments from the campaign are seen in their formative stages, such as the commercial making use of George H. W. Bush's "read my lips: no new taxes" broken promise and the creation of the line, "It's the economy, stupid".
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary.
[edit] 2008 Democratic Primary Controversy
In late April 2008, a clip from the film was released on YouTube, showing former Clinton administration official (and supporter of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton) Mickey Kantor saying "Look at Indiana, wait, wait – look at Indiana. 42-40. It doesn’t matter if we win. Those people are shit. Excuse me." The clip appeared to cast aspersions on the people of Indiana.
On May 2, 2008, Kantor said that the footage had been doctored[1], and shortly thereafter, D.A. Pennebaker made the admission that Kantor had actually said "Those people must be shitting in the White House."[2]
[edit] Similar works
- À Hauteur d'homme: Documentary about Bernard Landry's re-election campaign of 2003 in Quebec, Canada.
- Comme un coup de tonnerre: French documentary about Lionel Jospin's campaign of 2002 and his subsequent ousting from the second election turn by Jean-Marie Le Pen.
- Street Fight: An Academy Award-nominated documentary about Cory Booker's ultimately unsuccessful 2002 run against Sharpe James for mayor of Newark, New Jersey, USA by filmmaker Marshall Curry.
- Journeys with George: Documentary about George W. Bush's 2000 election as President of the United States by Alexandra Pelosi.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ "Clinton Campaign Adviser Claims Indiana Slur Video Is Conspiracy", The Huffington Post.
- ^ "Pennebaker: Clip Doctored", Politico.
