The War Room

Director: Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker

1993 / 96min / DCP

Hegedus and Pennebaker’s campaign trail ride-along with Bill Clinton and team on the Man from Hope’s 1992 bid for the presidency, praised at the time of release for its marvelous momentum and all-access vantage of brainstorming sessions including pundits-to-be James Carville and George Stephanopoulos, today seems to capture a pivot point in the history of American democracy: both the triangulated centrist transformation of the Democratic Party and the adaptation of campaign strategy to the exigencies of the 24/7 cable news cycle. A vital document of a key moment in American politics that, in some sense, we have never left.