The War Room (1993)
Starring: James Carville, George Stephanopoulos
Directed by: Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker
4 out of 5
Myles Herod
Entertainment Editor
Although Bill Clinton became president of the United States, it was James Carville and George Stephanopolous who won the election in 1992. That seems to be what directors Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker are telling us in their documentary The War Room – an absorbing look into what campaigns are capable of.
You don’t have to be politically minded to get sucked into the whirlwind that the two create with their engaged camera work and encompassing editing. A large part of what makes The War Room so memorable is the presence of strategist James Carville and communications director George Stephanopoulos, now household media names, then just two guys running a campaign.
Both men anchor the film so well that its structure just seems to fall into place. Capturing the think-on-your-feet brilliance of both, we also get a fly on the wall account of America at the time, pre-internet, still divided by two parties.
Hegedus’ and Pennebaker’s film fits comfortably within the tradition of cinema verité, bypassing voiceover narration and simply presenting the events as they played. But the film’s propulsive structure reveals a pair of brilliant filmmakers — not passive, but one’s who carefully shaped a great timepiece of the Clinton campaign, with Bill making a handful of memorable cameos to boot.
Special Features: Criterion has put together a wealth of extras. On the political spectrum, A 2008 sequel Return of the War Room features Hegedus and Pennebaker revisit with Carville and Stephanopoulos reflecting on the 1992 campaign, while a panel discussion hosted by the William J. Clinton Foundation features Clinton offering anecdotes and a keen eye on his legacy.
On the film spectrum, Hegedus and Pennebaker gather for a new discussion about how the production came together. Recorded separately is Nick Doob on the techniques necessary for making a film like this function and breath.
Overall: A fascinating doc, revved up with some fabulous special features. Politics were never the same after Carville and Stephanopoulos took over. This remains a great introduction to a brief history in the arena of American politics.
Buy or Rent: Buy...especially if you're a political junkie.
World On A Wire (1973)
Starring: Klaus Lowitsch
Directed by: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
4 out of 5
Myles Herod
Entertainment Editor
Originally airing on German television as a two-part miniseries, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s World on a Wire is a complex piece of European futurism, serving as a precursor to such tantalizing creations as Inception and The Matrix. The Criterion Collection’s beautiful transfer is an expansive three-and-a-half-hour spectacle of conspiracy and cybernetics – a broad vision that will appease many Sci-fi connoisseurs.
Based on Daniel F. Galouye’s novel, World on a Wire is doused with art house flourishes, relying on paranoia rather than punchy explosions and pyrotechnics. Certain pessimism pervades throughout, with Fassbinder choosing to critique a world of detachment rather than revel in a screenplay of clichés.
The main star, Klaus Löwitsch, plays Fred Stiller, an engineer working on software called Simulacron: a virtual reality universe inhabited by roughly 8,000 identity units. The units in question live as human beings, unaware that they are living fabricated realities. Things begin to unravel when Professor Henry Vollmer (Adrian Hoven) unearths a secret, which may or may not be the catalyst to his mysterious demise.
As Vollmer’s successor, Stiller seeks the truth, leading him to infiltrate the labyrinth that is Simulacron, dodging assassination attempts while balancing romantic interludes.
Made at age 27, Fassbinder’s World on a Wire remains his only foray into science fiction. Filmed on 16mm, and in just 44 days, the clinical atmospherics he’s created are not unlike something Kubrick or Tarkovskiy could have envisioned. While it may be one of his more obscure efforts, it’s certainly one of his most audacious and otherworldly.
Special Features: Various, in-depth interviews include one with cinematographer Ballhaus, co-writer Fritz Müller-Scherz, and actor Karl-Heinz Vosgerau. Candidly, Müller-Scherz recalls memories of writing the script with Fassbinder on weekends spent in Paris, as well as their interpretation of the written source. Also included are two great documentaries "Fassbinder's World on a Wire: Looking Ahead to Today," a making-of documentary produced by Juliane Lorenz, onetime editor - now head of the Fassbinder Foundation. The other involves German film scholar, Gerd Gemünden, as he lays out the thematic and stylistic similarities between World on a Wire and the rest of Fassbinder's filmography, particularly paying attention to his fascinating use of wall-to-wall of mirrors.
Overall: A dynamic and cerebral Sci-fi thinker, packed with intriguing ideas and soaked in a moody ambience. A welcomed addition to the German director's already prolific output.
Rent or Buy: Buy…if you are into mind-bending cinema.
