Review
WHO IS BUSH’S BRAIN?
Featuring James Moore and Wayne Slater
Directed by Michael Paradies Shoob and Joseph Mealy
Monday, November 1
Murray Fraser Hall, Room 162 (U of C)
With the U.S. presidential election just around the corner, international politics are on everyone’s lips. I have witnessed more than a few water-cooler discussions that posit that not only is Dick Cheney the smartest (or most dangerous) vice-president that the U.S. has ever had, but that he in fact pulls the strings in the Bush administration. Building on the theory that George W. Bush might not have complete control of his country is the documentary Who is Bush’s Brain? It speculates that Karl Rove (key advisor to the president), and not Bush (or Cheney, for that matter), is the most powerful man in America.
Based on the book Bush’s Brain, by James Moore and Wayne Slater, the film looks into Bush’s political past. From his fumbling beginnings as a gubernatorial hopeful in Texas to his questionable presidency, Bush has been backed the whole way by Rove. A savvy political PR agent, not afraid of below-board tactics, Rove, though never officially linked to any dirty dealings, is notorious for doing whatever it takes to win. With the help of several figures from Capitol Hill, Who is Bush’s Brain? all but implicates Rove in everything from whisper smear campaigns to bugging his own office to distract the press from more important issues. If the filmmakers are correct, by feeding Bush a steady diet of well-rehearsed material, Rove essentially is calling the shots in the White House.
Filmmakers Michael Paradies Shoob and Joseph Mealy deliver a near-flawless assault on Rove, backed by news articles and political experts (the most damning testimony coming from those who have gone head-to-head with Rove). Both interesting and somewhat terrifying, Who is Bush’s Brain? illuminates a shadowy corner of American politics.
In fact, the only misstep occurs in the film’s closing minutes. In an attempt to universalize Rove’s effect on the country (as if the policy dictated by the Bush administration in the last term wasn’t enough), Shoob and Mealy take an extended interlude with a family who lost their son in the Iraq war, in much the same way that Fahrenheit 9/11 did. And just like Michael Moore’s anti-Bush opus, this segment feels bloated, overly sentimental and somewhat out of place. Still, the film asks all the right questions, and even if a 10-minute sojourn into the life of an American family is what the filmmakers think their piece needs, it doesn’t change the fact that Who Is Bush’s Brain? gives audiences a lot to think about.
Who Is Bush’s Brain is part of the Movies That Matter series and screens with Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry. |
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