The Hunting of the President (2004)

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

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

Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives in 1998 because he broke the law! He lied under oath to a federal grand jury, which is punishable by five years in prison.He also obstructed justice, the same type of offense which led to the resignation of RIchard Nixon during the Watergate controversy.Clinton was a lawyer and he knew what he was doing was completely illegal! Clinton lied on national television stating that he "did not have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky!" It's so pathetic that some people think it's unfair that the president was impeached because he broke the law. That is a fact.Bill Clinton is the second president in history to be impeached. He left office with one of the most untrustworthy ratings in history.This is an attempt by this so-called "documetary" to rewrite history as it actually happened. If Clinton didn't want to be impeached he should have told the truth, but he lied just like Richard Nixon and paid the consequences for it. Nixon resigned and Clinton was impeached. Nothing will ever change that.

The impressively assembled documentary feature "The Hunting of the President" traces the decade long attempt by several key figures on the "right" side of the proverbial aisle to discredit the candidacy and then the presidency of former U.S. President William Jefferson Clinton. The film is based on the bestseller by the same name by Joe Canason and Gene Lyons, so this companion piece plays out like a flashy abridged version of many of the events depicted in that exposé. The film follows the many ways that the character and credibility of Clinton was chiseled at again and again by these figures from his position as Arkansas governor through his impeachment trials as President, as well as the quickly developed conservative media that began to sell lies as history. Some of the uncovered distortions presented here do feel like low level conspiracy theories, or at the very least something out of the Amy Fisher story. Like all politically charged documentaries this one does take sides, but given so many ethical quandaries it's hard not to agree with its stance. Morgan Freeman, the new go-to guy for documentary narration, adds a certain dignity to the film whose movie-of-the-week narrative often becomes stylistically irritating. In the end like him or hate him, love him or leave him, Clinton is not the tragic figure in "The Hunting of the President". That space is left open for the likes of Susan McDougal who was imprisoned for two years for refusing to commit a crime. The story behind that is something well worth watching.

This film has some major problems. One,it explains almost nothing. Even if you paid close attention in the '90s to the "deep-in-the-weeds" details of Whitewater and the pre-Monica sexual allegations against Clinton---this movie not only assumes you understood this stuff to begin with, but that you remember it too. Mistake. If you are looking for a movie that will shed some light on these subjects, this isn't it.Second,the director constantly interrupts the storyline with flashes to clips of "gangsters" or "train crashes" which I assume are supposed to imply the dastardliness of the "hunters of the president". The impact is distracting to the viewer and trivializes the subject at hand. If a class of sophomores somewhere were asks to dramatize this subject, I have the feeling this is what they would come up with.Weak effort.

The Hunting of the President is one of the best documentaries made. In what has turned out to be such a banner and distinguished year for documentaries, including Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me," Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11", as well as "The Control Room" and "The Corporation", this one stands out above the pack. The film makes a step-by-step examination of the attempted character assassination on then Governor of Arkansas (and later current President Bill Clinton), from 1990, before his ascension to The White House in 1992, to the year 2000, when the investigations into Clinton's financial and personal affairs were basically over.With its clear focus and incisive interviews with some of the key spinsters who worked both for and against Clinton at the time, this documentary makes you aware of the kind of back room wrangling and political positioning that goes on when the two main political institutions are vying for power and public attention.The film does not use heavy handedness, at all, in its treatment of the subject matter. Instead, it is its real seriousness and mature focus on the topic at hand that provide the fuel and fire that lead you to its firm conclusions. This may turn-off some viewers, but no one will be able to deny the film's findings or minimize its well thought-out examination of past political goings-on.This documentary, like Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11", is both instructive and historical and should not be missed by anyone. Overall grade: solid A.