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A Very Good Look at American King-making
He once embodied one of the most flagrant abuses of power ever exercised by an out of touch president, but in 1994, Oliver North took to the campaign trail, in a bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Virginia. From beginning to end, North's campaign seems to embody all the dark and hypocritical realities that American citizens suspect, but don't generally believe, our elected officials embrace in running for office. North's ruthlessness in plotting to use sexual rumors against his opponent, Senator Chuck Robb, contrasts sharply Robb's naive but honest political hayseed public persona. North is willing to stoop and crow, which may sadden those who always saw him as the fall-guy in the Iran-Contra scandal. Taylor and Cutler juxtapose North's Congressional testimony, admitting that he lied to Congress, to his "on the campaign trail" act, proselytizing to high school students about honesty. North comes off even worse than his right-wing counterparts, for while they enjoy abusing their naive opponent, they seem to know that their mean-spiritedness is a tactic, whereas North seems to enjoy the prospect of punishing Robb more than the idea of being elected.

North's campaign advisors make just as interesting a spectacle as North himself. They are, without exception, hard-working, extremely successful people. They make their living by being the sort of people who get called to either back up, or respond to, threats, attacks, complaints, schemes, and calamities. Their bravado thickens the air of the chaos that bleeds through the entire documentary.

The most revealing moment of the entire documentary is when, upon writing North's concession speech, his campaign advisor pauses in a rare moment of reflection and remarks that, while running for office is about building walls up between people, governing is about tearing them down and coming together. We soften towards him in the end, as his eyes well up upon hearing North deliver the speech, part of it being lifted from a poem inscribed on a coffee mug belonging to his grandmother.

Only upon reflection during the rare calm moments can the audience occasionally sense his disquiet. In high school civics I read that extremism in defense of liberty is no sin, but I now wonder if schmoozing, snarling, misleading, browbeating and back-scratching are.

A Perfect Candidate gives the audience a glimpse into the heart of American electoral politics.

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"Do you want the flu, or the mumps?"
A bare-bones documentary, I wish it could have been longer. The back cover had a shot of North and his manager having a conversation with Bob Dole. I would have loved to see the conversation in the movie.

This is perhaps a one of a kind political documentary. It is emblematic of the North campaign's arrogance to have allowed this kind of access behind the scenes. It is an insider's shot for the outsider, to see internal campaign discussions. One of the discussions was of the need to convince a public unenthralled with Chuck Robb, to settle for Ollie North. Everything else beside it, that was the central effort of that campaign: get the voters to 'settle' for Ollie North. They didn't pull it off.

Right away, with the convention speech, we see in full force the kind of mind-numbing demagoguery that was Ollie North in 94. Most Republicans, in a conservative state like Virginia, couldn't abide hime, since they realized his polarizing effect was a danger to the party internally and externally. Only the most uneducated reaganites bought into his brand of blather, mainly because it was so boringly obtuse. Most reaganites, being educated people, couldn't buy into his program after the way he had served the President in the 80s. The Ollie scandal was THE most serious political threat to Ronald Reagan to erupt in two terms.

It was dreadfully amusing to see North lie to the highschool kids, saying he hadn't lied to Congress (since his conviction had been overturned, according to his reasoning), when the documentary begins with immunized testimony of North declaring, "I lied to Congress." One way or the other, the man is a liar; just not a very skilled politician.

Probably the most painful, hysterical, and unforgettable clip is Chuck Robb scuttling through the grocery store, desperately trying to find someone's hand to shake. The hapless Robb should have been able to slam dunk North, as an incumbent with a whole political party united behind him. When the Robb and North campaign managers chat during the candidate debate, it's perfect insight into the candid cynicism.

The campaign manager is the real star, a disgraced fringe player in Republican politics trying to make it back into the big time. Watching the behind the scenes campaign was discomfiting. "Adolescent" was the word that kept coming to mind. Watching their smugness and arrogance, and their "wit," was like watching teenage boys finding themselves very very amusing. That's why I'm afraid this film will be a one of a kind.

The candid moments of the campaign manager, his "bread and circuses" segue and his observations on the political process, were touching. We can't help but feel sorry for him watching him try and fight his way back from the boonies. At the same time, we can't help but feel contempt when watching him gloat over the North "acceptance" speech on election day. This is a unique documentary, worth watching a couple times.

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Blind Leading The Blind
What's most fascinating about A PERFECT CANDIDATE is the inability of North and his staff to see what's going on around them: openly despised by a large percentage of their own party, publicly rebuked by fellow Republican and wildly popular US Senator John Warner and campaigning in the shadow of some of the largest negative polling figures in US political history, the North For Senate people still arrogantly assumed the office was theirs for the taking.

Seeing their stunned faces on election night is worth the price of this tape.