Tribeca Review: Al Franken: God Spoke
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Independent, Tribeca, Theatrical Reviews, Politics, Michael Moore, Cinematical Indie
In 1992, filmmakers D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus documented Bill Clinton's presidential campaign, resulting in a still-noteworthy chronicle of political contending titled The War Room. Twelve years later, co-directors Hegedus and Nick Doob (who was cinematographer for The War Room) followed the race of 2004, only this time their subject was interestingly not one of the candidates. Al Franken: God Spoke, which presents a year in the life of the title comedian/author/radio talk-show host, is a humorous, but more importantly illustrative, documentary about the weight of the media -- especially the comedic media -- on the last presidential election.
Franken, who got his break on Saturday Night Live, is one of today's most influential political humorists, and, along with Jon Stewart and Michael Moore, he represents liberal America's unfortunate dependence on jesters instead of kings. The film opens with the publication of his latest book, which attacks the Bush administration and conservative individuals such as Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly, then goes on to present the beginnings of his show on Air America Radio and observes the ensuing war between him and the right-wing media, particularly O'Reilly and Sean Hannity at Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. During an early scene, he tells a classroom of students, "I take what they say and use it against them." This practice is nothing new, yet somehow in a time when kids get their news more from comedy shows like The Daily Show than from newspapers, it makes someone like Franken an important political figure.
Mostly the documentary is a profile on Franken, filled with biographical info and archive footage, but many a time it inadvertently spotlights the problems with our country's current attention to politics -- or current attention to those with attention to politics -- and hints at the problems of the Democratic Party by avoiding any concentration on John Kerry and his campaign. The film contains a very fair and balanced inclusion of points made by both left-wing and right-wing commentators about the significance of either's attitudes toward politics in general and certain politicians specifically, and no individual, not even Franken, is completely glorified or disgraced -- by the filmmakers at least. As with any observational documentary, Al Franken: God Spoke is an example of life's unpredictability. It exists as something entirely different because Kerry lost the election than what it would be if he had won, and because of the circumstances, Franken exposes himself as imperfect during a presumptuously gloating staff-meeting before Election Day.
While watching this documentary I thought back on Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 and how in hindsight that film becomes not insignificant, but differently significant now that Bush is in his second term. In his review of Fahrenheit, J. Hoberman in The Village Voice compared Moore's possible influence on Bush's losing in 2004 to impersonator Dana Carvey's effecting Bush, Sr.'s loss in 1992, claiming that, "Carvey did more than anyone in America ... to drive Bush père from the White House." The designation of such importance on comedy's role in politics now seems the error of a political era reliant on it. The great thing about a show like Saturday Night Live (where Carvey's impersonations were on display), is its non-partisan practice of mocking all political sides and personalities, and it is important to contemplate hypothetical right-wing equivalents to The Daily Show, Michael Moore and, of course, Al Franken, in order to appreciate the entertainment of comedy and to slightly depreciate its service.
Side by side The War Room and Al Franken: God Spoke are strikingly indicative of their political environments by presenting the kind of heroes being recognized at the time. In '92, it was the making of a star out of a political strategist (James Carville); in '04 out of a political satirist. Each is valuable to the study of political campaigning, with the newer film completing the pair as the "what not to do" in an election year.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-17-2006 @ 11:45AM
vakerorokero said...
funny how he stayed quiet the first four years and now he's all critical. shut up. All these "comedians" are just waiting for enough audience to follow them, they are not about making a point first. They just ride the wave of polls. Even Saturday Night Live has been death for 10 years, and needs a whole cast change. There is such thing as political satire anymore. Even with a president you can't read and a vicepresident who shoots his friends in the face.
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4-17-2006 @ 1:45PM
Mark C said...
In fact, vakerorokero, Al Franken didn't stay quiet the first four years.
He has been satirising and criticising the right-wing in American politics since about 1996, with the publication of his book 'Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations'. Also, Franken's 'Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them' was published before the 2004 election, not after.
I would argue that political satire in America is as strong as it has been in quite some time, with the increasing popularity of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report as two fine examples, especially when you consider Jon Stewart's interview on Crossfire in October 2004 - that interview suggests a comedian leading the debate rather than one following opinion polls.
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4-17-2006 @ 10:55PM
W. Williams said...
Political Satire is alive and better than well. Go back a couple of decades
and the only satirist I can remember was Mort Sahl who often appeared on
The Steve Allen Show, but his satire was so cerebral that you had to be
a prolific reader of newspapers and the "classics" to keep up. He would
be way over the heads of today's youth, I'm afraid. Before him was Lenny
Bruce who was angry and fighting for his survival against the onslaught
of big government, who were after him for his foul language, much like
Howard Stern more recently, but it was much worse then because it
was the 1950's when we seemed to be heading for "1984" ..for real.
And please don't point fingers at Liberals for utilyzing humor for
commentary, it's a tradition going back to the time of ruthless rulers
on every continent, and besides Conservatives are basically humorless,
their agenda is so serious; chipping away at the Constitution and our
individual freedoms among other travesties that no one can laugh.
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4-18-2006 @ 2:13AM
vakerorokero said...
"especially when you consider Jon Stewart's interview on Crossfire in October 2004 - that interview suggests a comedian leading the debate rather than one following opinion polls." what? debate? what debate? he went there to make fun of those idiots which weren't any "controversial debate show" in the first place. He went there to make a name for himself, and he did.
"He has been satirising and criticising the right-wing in American politics since about 1996, with the publication of his book 'Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations'." yeah, I don't remember him being a part of the goverment at any time. Going after a famous political journalist isn't
political debate also.
Howard Stern? he smoke pot & has porn stars mastubate on the air. How can you get any credibility to actually be taken seriously. besides he is on satellite radio where we can say pretty much anything and no one cares.
W.Williams, I understand the history of political satire in America which goes all the way to years after the Mayflower landed, but I don't understand how that relates to being satirist now. Even the OScars have stayed quiet. the Oscars!! now that the country is a second great depression no one wants to mention it. the Gas is off the roof, outsourcing is an everyday problem with even all-American Ford making a run for the border. The Vietna... Iraq War turning into a civil war against U.S. soldiers to get them out, while Exxon, Shell "privatize" not steal "privatize" Iraq Supply and sell at $80 a barrel to China, which by the way is flooding the market with cheaper products. American out of jobs due to immigrants working as neoslaves for a $20 a day, and a president wanting to legalize them so millions more come to work. Shall I go on? Dick Cheney's media-hate? Hugo Chavez taunting America? Bin Laden? WMD? yet everyone's main target of jokes is "the president is so stupid he says a lot of stupid things trying to pronounce big words, and let's watch a video of that" yeah. That's debate. A few people own the Tv channels, Radio Networks & Newpapers. The only way you can get real info is the internet and that's why many sites are blocked for iraq soldiers, not their satellite tvs. Even Stewart said you can't take serious quotes from Comedy Channel. Indeed. I respect both your opinion but living outside the U.S. means the info I get is not censored like you guys get.
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