The War Room (1993)

Brilliant and touching

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

"The War Room" is a fantastic documentary that shows the behind the scenes and takes an inside look at a presidential campaign for president. This film follows then Arkansas governor Bill Clinton's track from the snowy cold first Primary in New Hampshire in January of 1992 to the final victory party on election night in November of 1992. The best scenes are shown in the campaign room when you hear the plans and game plans of the two most important Clinton insiders that being James Carville and George Stephanopoulos. Carville the outspoken and fiery southern who ran the campaign with charm and hard working passion. Really an emotional moment is when James gives his speech at the end by breaking down and crying really a touching moment for the viewer. While Stephanopoulos the brilliant and young bright mind who was an ex Rhodes Scholar does a fine job as the communications director helping Bill dodge and maneuver around such scandals as Gennifer Flowers and the draft dodge. The film also has plenty of highlights from the debates, speeches, campaign tours, and highlights of final election results too. Really a fine documentary of how a political campaign should be done, which most will find both educational and informative.

I was taking a course in American Government at Rutgers when I saw this film. I fell in love with George Stephanopoulos right away. James Carville is always a delight to watch with his Cajun tongue and enthusiasm. This film documentary chronicles the Clinton election in 1992. I can't believe I miss that period now. Of course, the War Room is not for those who don't care anything about politics. The boy from Hope gave us hope and a promise that was fulfilled. Sure there was the sex scandals, at least they were interesting, the economy was headed in the right direction and we had surplus budget. Now, we're in two wars with no end in sight. Still, the War Room reminds us of the promises and the hope around election day.

This is the perfect movie to watch pre-elections -- it reminds those of us who voted for Clinton in 1992 why he seemed to be the answer to our prayers, and introduces us to the men who made us believe that. It's not really about Clinton -- the heroes are James Carville and George Stephanopoulos, who work in the "war room" in Little Rock, Ark., and coordinate the campaign. Even the most cynical anti-Clintonite will admit that Carville and Stephanopoulos are sincere in their belief in Clinton's policies and in the man himself. The best scene comes towards the end on Election Day, when Carville begins talking to himself, composing a concession speech for Clinton.The film is so focused on the Clinton campaign that if you don't know ahead of time that Carville and Mary Matalin, who appears as the Bush campaign spokeswoman, got married after the campaign, her scenes might seem a little out of place ... at least until the sight of him whisking her away on a romantic weekend trip during the course of the campaign jogs your memory.

I don't profess to know anything about the inner workings of a political machine, so I was really interested in seeing a behind the scenes look at what goes on. As ignorant as I am, The War Room didn't tell me anything new. There seemed to be a consciousness (either on the part of the "war room" staff or the filmmakers) that this movie was in no way to smudge Clinton's image. So, we see a whole lotta Clinton supporters with no cracks showing in their dedication. The Clinton campaign machine comes off as the good guys while choosing to show Bush at his most offensive. These scenes were, I'm sure, included to make me appalled at the tactics employed by Bush, but instead it just made me realize that I'd probably learn more about campaigning if I were allowed 90 minutes in the REPUBLICAN war room.James Carville was quite impressive in all of his tic-riddled glory. If I were running for anything, I would certainly want him in my corner. But the most clear-headed person to hit the screen was the enemy, Mary Matalin. She may not be charismatic, but she seemed to be the only who truly believed in her candidate instead of the hype.