This movie came out on HBO several months ago, but I never got around to seeing it until now. How ironic, considering that we are now upon our country’s latest Presidential election and one of the most important ones at that. Still, the memories of hanging chads and confusing ballots permeate our consciousness 8 years after the heavily contested election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. We saw this played out on the networks with all their furious coverage, but now with “Recount,” we get a look at what went on in the campaign offices while this election fight went on to get what they each felt was fair and just.
How you view this movie might depend on what side of the political spectrum you see yourself on. I’m not sure how accurate this movie is to real events, but I imagine it is pretty close. Coming out of it, you may feel it values one candidate over the other. But in the end, “Recount” is not so much a movie about the fight to get candidates elected as it is about the fight for democracy. It is a fight for all the voters to be heard, and also a scary tale of how the fate of the Presidency can end up in the hands of a powerful few instead of America as a whole. Hopefully, this is something that we all collectively hope we never have to live through again.
“Recount” was directed by Jay Roach who is best known as the director of all the “Austin Powers” movies. Here, he directs a large cast of superlative actors who take the roles of many people we know well from the news, and gives us a strong case of why many still thank Al Gore was robbed of the Presidency (hence, it will probably alienate more conservative audiences). Both Gore and Bush are basically supporting players in this story, and we only see them from the backs of their heads (obviously portrayed by other actors) or in news footage of them during the campaign. The movie is more interested in what went on behind the scenes of the election, and of the different fights made to get to the truth of who won the Florida electoral votes.
Even though we all know how this ended up and who got elected, the movie is still riveting in the same way “Apollo 13” was. It is not so much interested in the general way things happened as it is the specifics of the issue. We see brilliantly shot examples of how chads in ballots could not be broken off as they were designed to be. The opening shot of the movie shows how easily confused some Florida residents are when they are trying to vote, and yet it is not altogether clear how to vote for Gore so that you don’t accidentally vote for Pat Buchannan. The moment where one of Gore’s campaign workers rushes up to him before he is about to make his concession speech on the night of that election is scary in that we all feel like we are running alongside him. This movie feels all the more stronger all these years later as we will finally be rid of Bush as President for once and for all. Even now, we have a strong emotional reaction to the thought of Gore conceding the election.
At the head of this star studded cast is Kevin Spacey who gives one of his best performances in quite some time as Ron Klain, Al Gore’s legal advisor on the campaign trail. The day before the election, it is presumed that Gore is going to win it, and Klain is offered a job in Gore’s new administration. Ron ends up turning it down, feeling that it is not the way he wants to spend the next 8 years of his life. But when it becomes clear that there are clear inconsistencies in the voting in certain Florida counties, Ron goes right into action to make sure that all the votes are recounted, as the margin of victory is only off by just over a thousand votes. Ron is aided by a large team of political strategists from Michael Whouley (Denis Leary) to Warren Christopher (John Hurt).
Spacey makes it clear from the start that Ron Klain is an idealist more than anything else about the way the political system works. What he does throughout the movie is not motivated by his desire to see Gore become President (he even admits in one scene that he is not even sure he likes Gore) as it is by the desire to see all the votes counted and to not have any of them thrown for different reasons like those rejected votes of people with similar names of convicted felons. Because the election was so close, we can see in Spacey’s eyes that this election is just much too important for certain votes to be cast aside.
We also get great performances from other actors like Ed Begley Jr. who plays David Boes who passionately fought for the recount to continue when testifying at the Supreme Court. Another great performance comes from the always reliable Tom Wilkinson (“Michael Clayton”) who plays James Baker who fights on behalf of George W. Bush to turn the election his way. Wilkinson plays Baker as being idealistic in his own way, and is almost as idealistic as Klain is for the democrats. Bruce McGill is also great here as Republican lobbyist Mac Stipanovich who is brought in to persuade Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris to stop the recount.
Speaking of Katherine Harris (who by the way wanted nothing to do with this film), she is played here in a brilliant performance by Laura Dern. With makeup to bring up harsh memories of Faye Dunaway from “Mommie Dearest,” Laura gives us a Katherine Harris who is not dumb, but who is oblivious to what is going on around her. She says she is following the law, but never really questions those around her as to what their true motives really are. Laura is one of the best actresses working today, and this movie is a good reminder of that. Her performance is frightening in how it shows
The other thing I wanted to note about “Recount” is that the actors do a great job of inhabiting their roles as opposed to impersonating people we have known for a long time in the political world. That is always the trap of playing characters we know from really life; many end up playing these people from the outside in instead of inside out. It takes a group of well trained actors to play these roles, and who are not mere impressionists or mimics. Mimicry is a cool art, but it doesn’t work in movies like this.
Director Jay Roach does a great job of literally putting you back in the year 2000, and he makes you're a witness to all the goings on to where even though you know how this race ended, you still hope and pray for a different outcome. Jay also shows how each Presidential candidate has to be grateful for all the dozens of people and hundreds of supporters who helped their candidate to where he (or eventually, she) is in the political landscape (and landmines) of America. Aside from “The West Wing,” we haven’t had too many movies that have looked at these people who work so hard for the politician they support, and this movie is a reminder of how those people need to be thanked for all that they do. They can’t stay behind the scenes forever. They need to be seen for who they are.
In the end, “Recount” is not so much a movie about how Gore got screwed out of an election he won the popular vote on. It’s not about if Gore lost the election. It is about how democracy was lost in that election, and of how many voices were rendered irrelevant for reasons that were not altogether justified. The final scene of the warehouse where all those uncounted votes is haunting, and it almost feels like an outtake of the scene from “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” where the Ark of the Covenant is being stored in a factory holding hundreds of boxes that all look alike. The real victim of that election was that all the voters were not heard, and that ended up leaving a shadow over George W. Bush’s Presidency that will never fully be erased.
It also serves as an important document of a moment of history that we can never forget. We need to remember what happened so that it never happens again. We have already seen history repeat itself, and now it’s time to learn from it so that it never happens again.
“Recount” shows how HBO continues to make some of the best and most important movies today. It’s one of the best movies I have seen in 2008.
**** out of ****
How you view this movie might depend on what side of the political spectrum you see yourself on. I’m not sure how accurate this movie is to real events, but I imagine it is pretty close. Coming out of it, you may feel it values one candidate over the other. But in the end, “Recount” is not so much a movie about the fight to get candidates elected as it is about the fight for democracy. It is a fight for all the voters to be heard, and also a scary tale of how the fate of the Presidency can end up in the hands of a powerful few instead of America as a whole. Hopefully, this is something that we all collectively hope we never have to live through again.
“Recount” was directed by Jay Roach who is best known as the director of all the “Austin Powers” movies. Here, he directs a large cast of superlative actors who take the roles of many people we know well from the news, and gives us a strong case of why many still thank Al Gore was robbed of the Presidency (hence, it will probably alienate more conservative audiences). Both Gore and Bush are basically supporting players in this story, and we only see them from the backs of their heads (obviously portrayed by other actors) or in news footage of them during the campaign. The movie is more interested in what went on behind the scenes of the election, and of the different fights made to get to the truth of who won the Florida electoral votes.
Even though we all know how this ended up and who got elected, the movie is still riveting in the same way “Apollo 13” was. It is not so much interested in the general way things happened as it is the specifics of the issue. We see brilliantly shot examples of how chads in ballots could not be broken off as they were designed to be. The opening shot of the movie shows how easily confused some Florida residents are when they are trying to vote, and yet it is not altogether clear how to vote for Gore so that you don’t accidentally vote for Pat Buchannan. The moment where one of Gore’s campaign workers rushes up to him before he is about to make his concession speech on the night of that election is scary in that we all feel like we are running alongside him. This movie feels all the more stronger all these years later as we will finally be rid of Bush as President for once and for all. Even now, we have a strong emotional reaction to the thought of Gore conceding the election.
At the head of this star studded cast is Kevin Spacey who gives one of his best performances in quite some time as Ron Klain, Al Gore’s legal advisor on the campaign trail. The day before the election, it is presumed that Gore is going to win it, and Klain is offered a job in Gore’s new administration. Ron ends up turning it down, feeling that it is not the way he wants to spend the next 8 years of his life. But when it becomes clear that there are clear inconsistencies in the voting in certain Florida counties, Ron goes right into action to make sure that all the votes are recounted, as the margin of victory is only off by just over a thousand votes. Ron is aided by a large team of political strategists from Michael Whouley (Denis Leary) to Warren Christopher (John Hurt).
Spacey makes it clear from the start that Ron Klain is an idealist more than anything else about the way the political system works. What he does throughout the movie is not motivated by his desire to see Gore become President (he even admits in one scene that he is not even sure he likes Gore) as it is by the desire to see all the votes counted and to not have any of them thrown for different reasons like those rejected votes of people with similar names of convicted felons. Because the election was so close, we can see in Spacey’s eyes that this election is just much too important for certain votes to be cast aside.
We also get great performances from other actors like Ed Begley Jr. who plays David Boes who passionately fought for the recount to continue when testifying at the Supreme Court. Another great performance comes from the always reliable Tom Wilkinson (“Michael Clayton”) who plays James Baker who fights on behalf of George W. Bush to turn the election his way. Wilkinson plays Baker as being idealistic in his own way, and is almost as idealistic as Klain is for the democrats. Bruce McGill is also great here as Republican lobbyist Mac Stipanovich who is brought in to persuade Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris to stop the recount.
Speaking of Katherine Harris (who by the way wanted nothing to do with this film), she is played here in a brilliant performance by Laura Dern. With makeup to bring up harsh memories of Faye Dunaway from “Mommie Dearest,” Laura gives us a Katherine Harris who is not dumb, but who is oblivious to what is going on around her. She says she is following the law, but never really questions those around her as to what their true motives really are. Laura is one of the best actresses working today, and this movie is a good reminder of that. Her performance is frightening in how it shows
The other thing I wanted to note about “Recount” is that the actors do a great job of inhabiting their roles as opposed to impersonating people we have known for a long time in the political world. That is always the trap of playing characters we know from really life; many end up playing these people from the outside in instead of inside out. It takes a group of well trained actors to play these roles, and who are not mere impressionists or mimics. Mimicry is a cool art, but it doesn’t work in movies like this.
Director Jay Roach does a great job of literally putting you back in the year 2000, and he makes you're a witness to all the goings on to where even though you know how this race ended, you still hope and pray for a different outcome. Jay also shows how each Presidential candidate has to be grateful for all the dozens of people and hundreds of supporters who helped their candidate to where he (or eventually, she) is in the political landscape (and landmines) of America. Aside from “The West Wing,” we haven’t had too many movies that have looked at these people who work so hard for the politician they support, and this movie is a reminder of how those people need to be thanked for all that they do. They can’t stay behind the scenes forever. They need to be seen for who they are.
In the end, “Recount” is not so much a movie about how Gore got screwed out of an election he won the popular vote on. It’s not about if Gore lost the election. It is about how democracy was lost in that election, and of how many voices were rendered irrelevant for reasons that were not altogether justified. The final scene of the warehouse where all those uncounted votes is haunting, and it almost feels like an outtake of the scene from “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” where the Ark of the Covenant is being stored in a factory holding hundreds of boxes that all look alike. The real victim of that election was that all the voters were not heard, and that ended up leaving a shadow over George W. Bush’s Presidency that will never fully be erased.
It also serves as an important document of a moment of history that we can never forget. We need to remember what happened so that it never happens again. We have already seen history repeat itself, and now it’s time to learn from it so that it never happens again.
“Recount” shows how HBO continues to make some of the best and most important movies today. It’s one of the best movies I have seen in 2008.
**** out of ****
For HBO it is a good film, I'm just glad we did not have to go through this again last night.
Excellent review!!!