By the People: The Election of Barack Obama (2009)

Some things I liked some I did not.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

By the People: the Election of Barack Obama, released in 2009 shortly before the presidential election, falls somewhere in between political propaganda and an amateur film diary. Directed by Amy Rice and Alicia Sams, produced by actor Edward Norton, this HBO documentary presents a one-dimensional view of the 2008 presidential election between Barack Obama and John McCain.Given that 98% of Hollywood is liberal, it was inevitable that a movie about Barack Obama would be made…but couldn't By the People at least be entertaining or enlightening? Apparently, Rice, Sams, and Norton, et al, didn't think so. With unlimited funds and talent at their disposal, People boils down to a tunnel view of the campaign, and its supporting cast of star-struck campaign workers, mainstream media, and huge crowds of enthusiasts.At the forefront is Obama, who appears to play to the camera like a star-struck kid, enjoying every moment of the branding that is Mr. O. The "behind-the-scenes" glimpses are just as carefully staged as Candidate Obama's many appearances, staff conferences, and his off-hand comments such as, "I love elections, they're so much fun!". No – really! The film lacks any narrative style – and any narration, for that matter - and the audience is left to plow through almost two hours of wall-to-wall film footage of this sticky-sweet homage to the perfect Liberal candidate. Without showing the reality that goes into every political campaign or exploring Obama's crafted image, By the People comes off as a back-handed tribute to Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will's cinematic design.A year later and OHLand can't help but wonder if Rice, Sams, and Norton, now well-tempered by time and stark reality, would package their product a bit differently.Ah, being liberals, probably not.

This documentary was thought provoking and had great insight into a process most of us only get to see from the outside.I loved seeing the emotional aspect of a campaign, most of the time you only see the "campaign face" of the people who are running and the staff behind them. I thought it was great to see the interaction of Obama's family, including his sisters. This movie showed how hard they worked and the impact it leaves on their whole lives; sleep deprivation, long hard hours for years, families that get put on hold, and relationships that are formed. Seeing the road to victory behind the scenes was great and seeing Obama's candid reactions to wins, losses, family, and various topics brought that human quality to him.I wish they could have shown more, though as you will see in the movie, if you watch the extras, they had a very hard time getting access throughout the years of filming, so what they did wind up with was a bunch of amazing clips that were cut short and left you wanting to see more. I understand that it was about Obama's election, but it would have helped (especially future generations) to see how other candidates won and lost, if only a few explanations here and there, not a main focus. Since I followed this election enthusiastically I can see the ups and downs in my mind, but after a few years and other generations come, people will be wondering; What the heck happened? How did he defeat McCain? In a way I wish we could have seen a little more negativity instead of just people being nice, everyone knows there is infighting and way more drama then just tears in a campaign. I felt that was a crucial missing part and left out big gaps.Overall this was a great documentary, especially since you get to see it from before he even put his name in the hat to run. They saw something in this man and early on (even earlier then they got to film and got approval) and followed this historic election all the way to the White House. Watch the special features on the DVD, they are Great too, even the commentary added that you can listen to the two women explain throughout the movie how everything came together and went down. Extra scenes help explain a lot and were great as well. I was always an Obama supporter and this just reinforced my views. Seeing any! behind the scenes footage is a great treat and well fought for and sought after.

The HBO documentary was broadcast here one day after its US premiere and one year after Election Day which brought Obama to the White House. There was certainly inspiration and and an amount of risk taken by HBO to put a whole team to follow Obama's campaign starting with 2006, as his election was not really in the cards from the start. This is maybe one of the reasons for which I expected more from this documentary than I really received.We do see the team since it's start, and actually we see more of the team then of Obama himself. We are introduced to some of the key participants in the campaign, all true believers, all deeply involved not only at the political and professional but also at the personal level. We see the crowds gathering, especially on the Democratic side, and on Obama's side within the Democratic Party - and the film does not try to keep any balance on reporting and does not show too many articulated opinions of the other camps. The arguments are most of the time emotional rather than rational, rhetoric rather than analytical. It's the story of the campaign, well told and well filmed, in chronological order - it happens under our eyes, and it is assumed that we know why it happened. Maybe in the future the documentary value of this story telling will increase, right now it's too new for us to have forgotten it already. There are no big surprises, no real scoops for people trying to learn more about the secret of Obama's victory. I expected some more information about the well conducted campaign on the Internet, or about the efficient money raising which was a key part in the success - there is no mention about this. There is also almost no mention about the international dimension of the campaign, or how the big policies issues were answered by Obama and what differentiated it relative to the other candidates on the Democratic and Republican side, leading eventually to victory. The film addresses more the emotional side, whoever looks for extended information or deep analysis will not find it here. The best moments are those in which we get a glimpse of the human dimension of the Obama family, or of the people who were involved in the campaign. For some viewers this may be enough, for other not. Depending upon the expectations 'By the People' can be satisfying or disappointing to the same extent.

I saw a limited preview screening of this in New York City at the Landmark Sunshine Theater on August 8, 2009. This doc will air on HBO in November.And it was absolutely killer. HBO Documentaries does it again. They're a brand I can shop by: Taxi to the Dark Side, The Agronomist, Born Into Brothels, etc. All great documentaries."By the People" is no exception. It's an intimate look into Barack Obama's brain trust and his key organizing generals on the ground. It captures intense, emotional, historical moments with strange moods outside fluorescent-lit hallways inside rooms you'd give your left arm to be a fly on the wall in. Then, of course, the camera goes into those rooms. But it only gives you a taste.In that sense, it leaves you wanting more. One can only imagine the amount of great footage they had leave on the cutting room floor. Hopefully, after this doc airs and the DVD is released, we'll get to see some of those deleted scenes.In the movie, here are some things you get to see you never would otherwise: Robert Gibbs' adorable little son, David Alexrod yo-yo'ing from an Obama-like calm to very Jew-neurotic about exit polls and Obama shedding a tear or two during a speech the day his grandmother dies and one day before his eventual election. Very touching. You also get to hear his grandmother (audio only) talk about Obama as a boy (a first ever, or at least for me) over shots of some rarely-before-seen family pictures.You get a wonderful, natural insight into how Obama's wife and kids act together as a family. How well-spoken and adult-sounding Malia, about 9 or 10 at the time, is. The distant look in her eyes when she says she wishes she could see her dad more during the campaign. You get to see how truly fierce in will and personality Michelle is. How much charismatic, black Chicago machismo swagger Obama gains when he's off-stage.If this all seems a little too intimate and personal, you may be right. But so instrumental to Obama's likability and popularity as a candidate at the time was his narrative and his character. A campaign as modern and media-savvy as this one doesn't just let this one slip by them, uncomfortably. They wanted this. Or at very least they allowed it.It will inevitably be compared to "The War Room," an ultimately surface-skimming and unsatisfying exposee into how Bill Clinton won the 1992 election, directed by D.A. Pennebaker, a documentarian of legend. But where "The War Room" was sensationalist, "By the People" is tense and emotional. And also matter of fact. It creates a mostly chronological and fairly complete time line of Obama's experience from the 2006 take back of the House by the Democrats to election night, about two years altogether.The instances of the familiarity this bred between the filmmakers and the campaign staff is best demonstrated when, near the end of the campaign, Obama smiles broadly and waves to the camera like he's actually glad to see them. Like he's relieved, almost.In one telling moment, he seems mildly surprised the documentary's camera crew made it to the New Hampshire primary after his victorious Iowa caucus, since the media blitz around his campaign grew exponentially.Obama says something like "You guys stuck around," smiling a politician's smile. And his communications director Robert Gibbs says, "That's because their movie's about to get better." He had no idea.