And as all of you know once I make such a promise, I NEVER break it.
However, now that EVERYBODY is talking about it, I guess the cat has officially escaped the bag.
First I will let the Guardian describe for you just who Nick Broomfield is, and why Sarah Palin should be pooping cinder blocks.
He's tackled Kurt Cobain, Biggie Smalls, Tupac Shakur and Heidi Fleiss. Now British documentary-maker Nick Broomfield has turned his attention to Sarah Palin, darling of the American right and potential candidate for a US presidential run next year.
Broomfield's as-yet-untitled film reportedly offers a critical examination of the former US Republican vice presidential candidate via interviews with her parents, friends and ex-colleagues from his subject's time as governor of Alaska.
Broomfield is known for working with minimal crew, often in a "gonzo" reporting style. His Palin film is the film-maker's first documentary feature since 2006's His Big White Self, about the South African far-right leader Eugene Terre'Blanche, which was screened on More4. The film-maker's two most recent features, 2006's Ghosts and 2007's Battle for Haditha, adopted a docudrama approach, using untrained actors to play themselves in dramatic roles.
Broomfield's films have attracted controversy in the past. An interview with Courtney Love, ex-partner of the late Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, for the documentary Kurt and Courtney, was so damning that Love successfully campaigned for the movie to be removed from the lineup for the 1998 Sundance film festival. A version was eventually screened in cinemas without any of Nirvana's music, after Love refused to allow it to be used.
Essentially Nick turns the harsh light of reality on his subject, and cuts right through the carefully constructed media facade that they hide behind. Which of course is the very thing that Sarah Palin fears the most.
This is what Sarah Jones of Politicususa had to say about Broomfield:
Derek Malcolm of the Guardian once said of Nick, “If Broomfield took up wedding photography, the divorce rate would be even higher.” This is not the man you want helming a documentary of you if you are hiding under a perilously constructed myth.
Peabody winner Broomfield also holds numerous other prestigious awards, from First Prize at Sundance to a 2006 Bafta Award for his contribution to the documentary genre. If that doesn’t impress you, Broomfield’s filmography includes “Aileen Wuronos: The Selling of a Serial Killer”, “Biggie & Tupac” and “Kurt & Courtney”.
I’ve already heard that Broomfield exposes Palin for who she is, and that is not a good thing for Sarah Palin. The truth may even shock average Americans who don’t follow politics.
Now since I am still honoring my promise to Nick I can only share a few innocuous things with you about what I know of the film.
I know that Nick interviewed a lot of the main players in Palin's political life.. A LOT of them!
I know that he attempted several times to interview Sarah Palin herself, but I am not sure that he was ever successful.
Nick and his crew interviewed me a number of times as well, in a number of different locations, including the office in my home while I was blogging. So you can imagine how exciting THAT footage must be to see on film!
Nick also managed to make it to a number of Palin's book signings (Including one you might have already read about), and speeches all across the country.
Hint: One of these hands might belong to a British filmmaker. |
I cannot say definitively how the documentary will treat Sarah Palin. I do know that Nick wanted to be as fair as possible, and to get a well rounded vision of who she was by interviewing people who liked her, as well as people who actually know her. (That is a little snark for my English friends.)
I believe I can also share that Nick was very thorough in his research and did check into some of the scandalous stories about the Palins, as well as to conduct interviews with people who had grown up with her, worked with her, or had been impacted by her in one way or another.
Personally I think this film has the potential of impacting the Palin mythology in a way that the books may not be able to do, in that it is a visual medium which does not require the ability to read. Even the simplest of Palin loving simpletons should be able to understand the moving pictures well enough to finally realize that their Queen is in actuality the Court Jester.
Okay maybe I DO have some idea of how this documentary will treat Sarah Palin. After all it is attempting to show the REAL Sarah Palin, and we all know how unflattering reality is to the Grizzled Mama, now don't we?
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