The War Room (1993)
Pennebaker Associates

Description

A look inside the 1992 presidential race, D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hedgus' documentary The War Room explores the backstage side of national politics by examining the day-to-day operations of Bill Clinton's campaign staff. The behind-the-scenes leader of the group is James Carville, the demonstrative, charismatic campaign manager who relies on a plain-speaking manner and emotional appeals to motivate his subordinates. He is complemented by the quieter, smoother personality and photogenic looks of young press spokesman George Stephanopoulous. The filmmakers follow these two contrasting personalities from the January New Hampshire primary to Clinton's eventual victory, as they attempt to cling to an overall strategic plan while dealing with unforeseen problems and negative press, as their candidate is saddled with accusations of adultery and draft-dodging.

Tags

1990s, Elections, USA

Collected reviews and ratings

10 documentaryfilms.net | Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.

The War Room is also a lesson in Pennebaker and Hegedus’ belief in his project. How many filmmakers would follow a group of politicians for ten months and hope to find a genuine story? This is a well-made film, full of human warmth and insight, and another star in the crown for DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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9.2 Old School Reviews | John Nesbit

The War Room is anything but dry, boring politics. This is big time drama along the lines of a heavyweight championship bout, but with much higher stakes. Anyone who doubts the power of a campaign team will think so no longer after watching these very human pros.
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9.0 Washington Post | Desson Howe

As with almost every cinema-verite subject, people in everyday action -- politics in particular -- reveal themselves with such absorbing originality, you don't need a script. It's great to watch characters in "The War Room" operating as most of us do -- by the seat of their pants.
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9.0 Washington Post | Rita Kempley

An entertaining look under the tent flaps of the Clinton campaign, "The War Room" fairly bristles with the frenetic energy, flat-out fun and Southern-fried cunning that won the White House. It's a documentary, though not a hard-hitting one, about presidential politics as reinvented by Bill Clinton's cagey generals, George Stephanopoulos and James Carville.
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9.0 The Documentary Site | Heather McIntosh

... by mixing the cinema verite footage with television clips, newspaper headlines, and music, Hegedus and Pennebaker create a proper form in which to showcase Carville, Stephanopoulos, and the rest of Clinton’s staff.
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8.8 Rolling Stone

Watching Carville and Stephanopoulos manipulate the media by playing both footsie and hardball makes for a wickedly funny and irreverent lesson in '90s power politics.
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8.0 Amazon user reviews

You won't find the kind of daily damage-control and skirt-chasing indirectly alleged in Primary Colors, but the filmmakers do give us a strong sense of the uphill battle of a presidential campaign.
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8.0 filmcritic.com | Christopher Null

I'm apolitical and despise politics -- but looking back at this campaign 12 years after the fact is actually a little nostalgic and surprisingly fun. Now gimme more Carville!
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8.0 DVD Talk | Stuart Galbraith IV

Though made chiefly to get inside the minds and inner workings of a presidential campaign team, The War Room has taken on a new life in ways that couldn't have been predicted when it was new. Recommended.
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7.7 DVD Verdict | Mike Pinsky

Unfortunately, The War Room has not aged as well as you might hope, even given its newfound relevance just after another contentious election season (and another Bush). We rarely get a chance to see any real strategizing going on in this so-called "war room."
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7.5 Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

Perhaps the documentary "The War Room" will bring a deeper dimension to the profession's image. At the very least, it may dispel the notion that campaign managers pervert the course of democracy with behind-the-scenes omniscience; the surprise in the film is that they're often as confused as their candidates sometimes seem to be.
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7.5 ReelViews | James Berardinelli

Whether your political persuasion is Democratic, Republican, or somewhere in between, The War Room offers a fascinating insider's look at the turbulent 1992 Presidential campaign. Anyone with any interest in politics or elections will be engrossed, so it's a pleasure to note that the directors plan a followup in 1996.
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