The Campaign - a cinematic guide to your political satire
August 6th, 2012 by GiliThe Campaign, which opens in theaters this upcoming weekend, brings to the screen the election battlefield between two eccentric candidates – Will Ferrell, as the prime candidate, an arrogant and idiotic congressman with too much self awareness, vs. Zach Galifianakis, a dimwit and naive guy who has no clue how congressional elections are held.
This is obviously not the first comedy that portrays a political campaign where an underdog competes in the elections against a stronger candidate (and usually wins; still, we love an uplifting story); Nor is it the first political satire about dumb politicians who have no idea what they’re doing, but succeeding in harnessing the public to support them, despite the odds.
In the eccentric/unqualified politicians category, who find themselves in a position that doesn’t exactly fit their skills set, we can honorably mention films such as Dave, King Ralph, Bulworth and also the fresh TV series Veep. But we’re here to review political satires who also involve elections and campaigns, so let’s get started with our (cinematic) debate and introduce the candidates:
Sacha Baron Cohen’s first original character would always be the British dimwit gangsta-wannabe persona (and phenomena) – Ali G. In his first feature movie, Ali G decides to save his beloved neighborhood, and after tying himself to a fence and going on a 2-minute hunger strike, he decides (with the fake support of some dirty politicians) that running for parliament would allow him to fix the situation. What starts out as a goofy candidate’s absurd campaign, changes quickly when he succeeds in getting into parliament. Ali G unwittingly manages to alter the debate culture and the political standards, lowering them to his own bar. An hilarious farce about the perfect political anti-hero.
How would you like Chris Rock to be your president? The funny man plays Mays Gilliam, an alderman who has been elected by his party to run for office, after the party’s two main candidates’ airplanes crashed into each other. His political party, presuming the elections are already lost, decides to select him as a losing candidate - but nobody told that to Gilliam. What starts out as an underdog irreverent campaign, turns out to be a presidential Cinderella story.
A political satire from the Netherlands, where the public, fed up with corruption and politicians, decides to elect a young Moroccan immigrant as the president. After a a successful (and humorous) campaign, the newly elected head of state moves with his posse to the president’s mansion, and obviously things don’t go so smoothly from there on, for them or for the nation.
Alexander Payne’s classic movie talks about a different kind of election, although as equally important and brutal – the student body elections. Reese Witherspoon plays a high school student who really, really wants to be elected as the student council’s president. The biggest problem is a school teacher who dares to challenge this obsessive & over-ambitious student. A funny, immoral and chaotic tail of a high school world, where Witherspoon would use every dirty trick in the book to win these elections.
A funny and irreverent comedians’ election campaign is not only a figment of some screenwriter’s imagination; it happens in real-life too, as seen in Gnarr, the biting and funny documentary from Iceland. Introducing the Best Party – a political party born from the boredom of Icelandic comedian Jón Gnarr. Among some of its platform’s principles – more polar bears at the zoo, free trips to Disneyland for every citizen and cooperating only with people who have watched the complete 5 seasons of “The Wire” (we at Jinni can relate to that). But when the party actually gains momentum, we can see that the line between a comedian’s semi-serious caprices and the true whims of the electorate is far more blurry then anyone could ever anticipate.
This French comedy reveals the big secret behind every politician’s success – public relations. An agency is tasked with promoting Pierre Hénaut, an honest man and an improbable presidential candidate; as the campaign progresses, we can see that in the media world, every manipulation is legitimate, stating the truth is strictly a recommendation, and using any means to fulfill this blind ambition is necessary for creating a whole new public image. A funny media satire about the behind-the-scenes intrigue of a presidential campaign.
Gene Hackman’s latest film (to date), where he goes head-to-head against Ray Romano at a small town’s elections for mayor. Hackman is the smug ex-president who wants to retire in a cushioned public office job; Romano is the simple small-town-guy who wants to make a stand against the big celebrity who is sweeping the town (and his girlfriend) off their feet. Political-wits vs. honesty; shrewdness vs. naivety; an ex-president against a local plumber. Want to take a guess who would win these elections?
Surprised by Stephen Colbert’s semi-serious campaign? Well, Barry Levinson thought of it first. Here he reunites with Robin Williams who portrays Tom Dobbs, a comedy talk show host who bashes politicians and their ideals on his show, until one day he decides to actually run against them. The campaign garners momentum when Dobbs proves that he’s not afraid to oppose traditional politics’ standards and to confront the other candidates. But what would happen if he actually gets elected? A witty political satire that is relevant today more than ever.
Will Ferrell: You’re Welcome America – A final Night with George W Bush
And finally, we’ve started with Will Ferrell, so we’ll give him the honor of wrapping things up with his funny interpretation of ex-president George W. Bush, one of Ferrell’s best impersonations. He concludes 8 years of presidency and gives his shrewd opinions and insights on his term, the state of the union and the American way. A 2-hour humorous special that shows us what real leadership is made of.
Well, what have we learned from the movies..? That if you want to succeed in politics you have to be oblivious to orthodox campaign fundamentals, obtain an eccentric personality and have a few spare tons of luck stashed away somewhere. Every political character on this list, just like the electorate system, has his own faults. So who is your favorite Candidate?
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