David Sirota
David Sirota is a political journalist, nationally syndicated weekly newspaper columnist and New York Times bestselling author living in Denver. His most recent book, The Uprising, was released in June 2008. He is widely known for his reporting on political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties. His weekly column, which was launched by Creators Syndicate in the fall of 2007, now appears in newspapers with a combined daily circulation of more than 1.6 million readers. He is also senior editor at In These Times magazine and blogs at credoaction.com.
FilmInFocus asked Sirota to pick his five favorite films about political campaigns.
DAVID SIROTA'S TOP 5 POLITICAL FILMS
1. |
Wag the Dog
This dark comedy is simultaneously hilarious and sad — probably because the over-the-top machinations and tactics parody the tragicomedy that really goes on inside modern campaigns. In a political world where style trumps substance, visuals outweigh policy and soulless campaign consultants are celebrated as intellectual luminaries, writer/director David Mamet gives us characters like the Fad King (Denis Leary) and strategist Conrad Brean (Robert DeNiro); manufactured sob stories created with Hollywood blue screens; and songs like Good Old Shoe. This is political satire at its most vicious — and accurate.
2. |
The Distinguished Gentleman
From the moment Florida huckster Thomas Jefferson Johnson (Eddie Murphy) runs for Congress by pretending to be a recently deceased incumbent with the same name, this movie is ridiculing Washington politics. Johnson wins his race solely on name recognition, achieving his dream of going to Congress and putting his skills as a professional con man to work. The casting carries this one. Any flick featuring Joe Don Baker as an energy lobbyist named Olaf Andersen and Lane Smith as a corrupt chairman named Dick Dodge is going to hit that elusive sweet spot: the one that perfectly calibrates caricature and reality.
3. |
Brewster's Millions
To inherit $300 million, Montgomery Brewster (Richard Pryor) is charged with the near-impossible task of wasting $30 million in 30 days without accruing a single asset — and without telling anyone about the contest. So how does he do it? He runs for public office. The message that big-time elections have become a huge waste of cash may be a subtext in this slapstick comedy, but Brewster's outraged campaign slogan asking citizens to vote "none of the above" is as relevant in today's money politics as it was when this movie first hit the silver screen.
4. |
Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?
Twenty-nine year-old neophyte Jeff Smith has a radical idea: he's going to run for Congress against the son of a famous governor who has the backing of Missouri's entire political Establishment. In this documentary of Smith's 2004 primary campaign, we see how despite today's idealistic rhetoric, the forces of corruption and status quo still run the Democratic Party.
5. |
The Candidate
It's something of a cliché to say the film, The Candidate, is a great movie about politics — but the last line alone in this story of a California election makes it a classic. After a grueling campaign in which Bill McKay (Robert Redford) goes punchy parroting his meaningless (and eerily Obama-esque) "there's got to be a better way" motto, the candidate for U.S. Senate wins in an upset. Standing amidst his exuberantly cheering supporters, McKay is shown in the last moment of the film helplessly turning to his political consultant asking "What do we do now?"
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