Search - Swing State on DVD

This does too have merit!

Jeffery Mingo | Homewood, IL USA | 09/01/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"That other review says this documentary was amateurish, self-indulgent, and it's implied that it's pass'e. I disagree. This is a decent work for the right audience. If you are a poli.sci.-aholic or a campaign-aholic, then you will enjoy this.

This work is done by the son of Fisher who was running for the No. 2 job in Ohio in 2006. As a son of the candidate, he has access to his father and other Democratic leaders in a way that the normal press does not. If Chelsea Clinton had made a documentary about her mother's run for senate in 2000, that would have been interesting too.

Sometimes, film is wasted on interviewees taking off microphones, etc. Still, this was impressive for a first-time effort. Clive Barker is lauded now, but his student work lacked half the quality that this documentary did. I imagine that Fisher the Son could have a strong career in the news media.

Most men don't like to admit to crying, but Fisher the Son admits that was his reaction when his father lost a previous campaign. Fisher's daughter says to her father, "If you get filmed with a gun to impress the NRA crowd, then I'm not voting in this election!" That takes strong political conviction to oppose one's father so openly. The work has moments of magic like that in it.

The director shoots himself and his father shirtless often. Really, I wonder if both are proud of their burly, hairy chests (and they should be!). However, I wonder if shirtlessness was the signifier of how the director has access that other media does not.

This work was no worse than "Politics Texas Style" or "Taking on the Kennedys." It's a poli. sci. tool and not for the NASCAR or "Jerry Springer Show" crowd, though Springer is seen here.

Finally, the special features section has a piece on the late Congresswoman Tubbs-Jones. As the opponent in the election was an African-American man trying to become one of the few people to break the color line to governor's mansions, this work really left race along a lot, or much more than any coverage on the 2008 presidential election would. For those interested in the important subject of Black women in elected office, this is another reason to peep this work."