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Obama Bio-Pic Recounts Rise to the Presidency
Barack Obama: The Man and His Journey
DVD Review by Kam Williams
As might be expected, the market is suddenly being flooded with
Barack Obama books, bio-pics and bric-a-brac. This DVD is an uncritical
vanity piece which essentially retraces his historic rise to the
presidency, as recounted by a combination of news footage and
entertaining interviews with some familiar talking heads.
Among the luminaries making appearances here are CNN’s political
consultant Roland Martin, Harvard Professor Laurence Tribe, comedian
George Lopez, Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Harvard
attorney-turned-actor Hill Harper. Lopez talks about how Latinos
initially resisted Barack before taking the Kool Aid, while Harper
reflects on his former classmate’s prowess on the basketball court.
Designed as a keepsake for fans of the new First Family, no one has a
bad word to say about Barack, so this documentary doesn’t have anything
controversial to offer, unless you count taking a few funny swipes at
John McCain and Sarah Palin. Otherwise the biography is a cloying love
fest from start to finish aimed at Obama supporters inclined to revisit
every aspect of the campaign.
And it’s all here, from the surprising win in Iowa to the temporary
derailment by Reverend Wright to the tide-turning racism speech in
Philadelphia clear through to the convention in Denver and the Election
Day triumph. Readily recommended as a pleasant recap, provided you’re
not looking for much depth.
Unrated
Running time: 89 minutes
Studio: CodeBlack/Vivendi Entertainment
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Lloyd Kam Williams
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 Lloyd
Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who
writes for 100+ publications around the U.S. and Canada. He is a member of
the African-American Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics
Online, the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee, and Rotten Tomatoes. In
addition to a BA in Black Studies from Cornell, he has an MA in English from
Brown, an MBA from The Wharton School, and a JD from Boston University. Kam
lives in Princeton, NJ with his wife and son.
IMDiversity.com is committed to presenting diverse points of view.
However, the viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of
the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or
employees at IMD.
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