When you make a documentary about a contemporary issue, you take a big risk in trying to make it as topical as possible. The situation you originally intended to examine could quickly change. It’s too late to do more than a passing mention. The changes that occur in the final moments of the film. Your audience, on the other hand, already knows how it’s going to unfold before they even sit down to see what you’ve built.
Consider the case of “Carville: It’s All About Winning, Fool.” This is a revealing and fascinating documentary about James Carville, a Louisiana-born Democratic political operative whose unbridled self-confidence, aggressive proselytizing, and profanity-laced funny remarks made him a… I was given the nickname. Raging Cajun. ”
Director Matt Tyrnauer spends most of the film’s running time looking increasingly anxiously at the prospect of 2024, fearing the worst with early polls showing incumbent Joe Biden defeated by former President Donald Trump. I’m watching Carville follow the presidential election. Even before most people inside and outside the party started suggesting, politely or not, that Biden should drop out of the race, Carville said the incumbent was truly too old and dealing with mental health issues. He began to suspect that his cognitive abilities were declining. Physical demands of second semester.
And in May 2024, a bombshell ABC/Washington Post poll found that only 42% of voters supported re-electing Biden, while 49% supported Trump. “That poll,” Carville admitted with characteristic frankness, “it discouraged me.” Before long, the maverick operative began pushing for Plan B. It would demand that Biden withdraw from the race without choosing a suitable successor and that a new candidate be chosen at the widely held Democratic National Convention.
Of course, not everything went well. (Kamala Harris appears briefly just before the end credits, but this footage was apparently added shortly before the film’s premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in late August.) It proves how convincing and, yes, how thoroughly entertaining it can be. Up until this unpleasant “plot” point, Tyrnauer was able to tell a dramatically satisfying, if not entirely complete, story.
“Carville: It’s All About Winning, Fool” is interspersed with scenes depicting the intense drama of the 2024 presidential election and Carville’s inexorable evolution from political newcomer to indomitable kingmaker. is of great help.
He served as Bill Clinton’s chief campaign adviser during the former Arkansas governor’s successful 1992 presidential campaign, which gave him his first significant national profile. George Stephanopoulos, who joined Mr. Carville early on as an aide, said that candidate and adviser “both had a little bit of thugs,” and that Mr. Carville was part of Mr. They point out that it likely worked well for both men when they had to defend themselves as fraud. and charges of draft evasion) were revealed.
Carville says that by emphasizing Clinton’s potential as a better problem-solver than incumbent George H.W. Bush, he will divert attention from these and other scandals during a transformative campaign. I made a clever plan. In this vein, Carville created a slogan to inspire his staff. “It’s the economy, idiot!” — and becomes the equivalent of an early ’90s viral meme.
(Tyrnauer cleverly uses excerpts from War Room, the excellent 1993 documentary by Chris Hegedus and prosecutor Pennebaker about the behind-the-scenes machinations of Carville, Stephanopoulos, and others in the Clinton campaign. (including Carville’s now cynical accusation that Bush was simply too old to be an effective commander-in-chief). )
Also highlighted throughout the documentary was Carville’s unlikely relationship with Republican operative Mary Matalin, whom he met during the Clinton-Bush campaign. They have been married for over 30 years. This surprises most critics, which also makes this seemingly incongruous couple amusing. Despite their significant differences, Matalin supported the Gulf War while he vehemently condemned it while serving on the White House staff under President George W. Bush. It is clear that they truly love and respect each other. In fact, their unbreakable bond seems to be a vestige of an earlier era when political controversy was not enough to keep people’s interactions at least civil.
“Carville: It’s All About Winning, Stupid” is a story about Carville himself, whose approach to political warfare, party loyalty, and campaign rhetoric made him stand out to many in his field, including many Democrats. This suggests that they are aware that they may be considered relics. He speaks disparagingly of the “woke stupidity” of unyielding progressives that could push moderate Democrats and even hardcore liberals into the Republican Party. But while Biden supporters may still harbor a grudge against Biden for vocally supporting his plan to replace the incumbent, well, frankly, he doesn’t care. Winning is really everything to him.
Political consultant and commentator Paul Begala said Carville, a longtime friend, was “the smartest bitch to ever do this for a living.” Age may have slowed him down a bit, but Carville is still around and continues to play.
