Swing State (Political Documentary/Morningstar DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Main Program: B-
Though
the Barack Obama victory was not a close call that split the vote “right down
the middle” but a decisive one that was obvious and inarguable, certain states
still were key and made for decisive swing states that politicians have to put
extra effort in and resources towards.
In 2000, it was Florida. In 2008,
it was Pennsylvania. In 2004 and
possibly 2008, it was Ohio and Swing
State (co-directed by Jason Zone Fisher, John Intrater & H. Spencer
Young) shows the uniquely wild and wound-up state of politics they offer is
like nothing else anywhere.
The 93
always-interesting minutes show us all corners of the state, how fired up the
electorate can get and it becomes a learning experience and microcosm of
elections in the U.S. as so many big names show up and are even interviewed,
including Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Al Gore, Madeline
Albright, John Kerry, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and even Jerry Springer, once in
power in Cincinnati before a scandal threw him out of office. The makers might have hoped Ohio would be a
hotbed of debate, but even with the decisive Obama/Biden win, is very much
worth seeing for its ambitions and the portrait it paints of the 2006 election
and how things started to change for the better in the U.S., but all starting
here.
The 1.33
X 1 image (not widescreen like the case says) has been culled from analog and
low def digital video footage old and new, so the result is uneven and often
soft, though the editing helps. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is sometimes stereo, but also has location sound flaws
and the new voiceovers and interviews are the best. Extras include deleted scenes, tribute to
Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones and trailer showing samples of the
interviews here.
- Nicholas Sheffo
