Al Franken in 2008! (God Spoke)
Ok.
So with Al Franken’s film “God Spoke” there’s a few givens that one will expect out of the film.
You expect it to be snarky. You expect it to have criticism of the Right. You even concede that of course, it will be very biased. But hopefully you’re tolerant of that.
You do *not* expect it to be as humanizing and warm in portraying Franken center stage as a very decent human being that you’d want over for dimsum or coffee cake on a sunday afternoon. After all, we’ve only known him to be the ultimate in self-effacing sarcasm. I mean, who else would have Al Gore on SNL speak self-affirmations in the mirror after losing the presidential election in 2000.
In his own words, Franken does not speak of his style of political criticism as attacks or propaganda. He calls it Jujitsu. Using documented conservative statements and retorting them with truth and insight. One particularly brilliant example presented by Franken was Fox News’ slant re: the danger/fatalities in Iraq vs. California of the same geographic size.
Fox stated that at 1.7 fatalities a day, Iraq could not be considered as dangerous as the state of California at nearly 7 fatalities a day. Totally ommitted from this mathematical diversion was the appropriate %s based on population. Der. Like they always say, you can always lie with statistics.
Highlight points being when Ann Coulter announced that if she could be anyone in history she’d be Mcarthy except she’d *not* do the “real deal” to which Franken retorted…he’d be Hitler then, to *not* do the whole holocast thing…but he’d keep the volkswagon. Franken clearly owns a black belt in poking holes at faulty logic. One that could serve him well if he’s serious about running for Senate in 2008 as announced in the film.
Some personal things that I loved about the film? How absolutely adorable, shamelessly affectionate, and *real* both Franken and his wife Frannie were. We see them in their pj’s. We see their quips and considerations for each other. We see a real relationship between a celeb and their spouse and it makes the possibility all too amazing that perhaps even politicians could have these relationships with their own wives. (Cuz you know that whole Bill & Hillary thing made you feel creepy about people actually loving their political partners).
Super glad I saw this film. 4/5 pigtails. It’d get a higher rating if we were able to see some more interviews with people who *don’t* necessarilly like Franken. In that respect this film was not quite fair & balanced. But no one’s really surprised by that, I expect.
Updated info on Franken & Air America on their blog here.
The official shpiel care of SFIFF
Love him or loathe him, the sharp-tongued liberal pundit Al Franken is on a mission. Since the 2003 publication of his bestselling book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, he has been fixated on discrediting the right-wing media’s alleged propensity for fomenting misinformation in its reportage and on exposing the Bush administration for its own acts of distortion. Dismissed as a “vile smear merchant†by arch nemesis Bill O’Reilly of Fox News, the bespectacled political satirist will stop at nothing to enrich the country’s media diet by relentlessly, as Franken says, “taking what they say and using it against them.†In this unflinching probe into the daily working life of the former Saturday Night Live writer and principal voice of Air America Radio, filmmakers Chris Hegedus and Nick Doob apply their classic, unobtrusive style in tracking the obstreperous Franken over the course of two years. Partners with renowned documentarian D.A. Pennebaker (The War Room, 1994) for over 30 years, Hegedus and Doob’s direct cinema strategies provide a candid, engrossing portrait of freedom of speech as exercised by one of the nation’s more colorful political insiders, interspersing existing TV footage of Franken in action with frank, behind-the-scenes glimpses into the pundit’s personal life. Whether he’s hobnobbing with Henry Kissinger at a swanky gathering of Republican bigwigs, engaging in an onstage contretemps with conservative vixen Ann Coulter or pondering a 2008 senate run, Franken is never anything less than unstoppable.
—Andy Bailey
SHOWTIMES
Fri, Apr 21 / 7:00 / PFA / ALFR21P
Sat, Apr 22 / 6:00 / Castro / ALFR22C
Tue, Apr 25 / 3:30 / Kabuki / ALFR25KCREDITS
- dir Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus
- prod Rebecca Marshall, Frazer Pennebaker, D.A. Pennebaker
- cam Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus
- editor Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus
- source Pennebaker Hegedus Films, 262 West 91st Street, New York, 10024 FAX: 212-496-8195 EMAIL: penneheg@aol.com
- web http://www.phfilms.com
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