Starring: Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Lynn Cheney
Overall Rating: 82.4
Being one of the most reclusive public figures to ever hold office, let alone the second highest office in the land, many were surprised to hear about a documentary coming out about former Vice President Dick Cheney. Whether scrubbing his house from Google Maps, having a "man-sized" safe to store his documents, or his overall mentality of thinking that the legislative branch held no true power, Dick Cheney has always held an aura of sinister about him. What we find out with The World According to Dick Cheney is that most of that was by design.
Before we even get to the opening credits of RJ Cutler's documentary produced for Showtime, we get a simple Q&A session with Cheney, consisting of softballs like "What is your favorite virtue?" and "What do you appreciate most of your friends?", each getting answered quickly and honestly. Then the filmmaker asks "What do you consider your main faults?" What follows next so amazingly demonstrates the disconnect that occurred between the Executive Office and the rest of the world, as Cheney struggles for a gut-wrenching amount of time to come up with an answer. His face anguishing trying to comprehend how anything about him could possibly be considered a fault. Finally, he simply responds, "I don't spend a lot of time thinking about my faults would be my answer".
Cutler takes a lot of his inspiration from Errol Morris' The Fog of War, which used controversial former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara as it's subject. From his humble beginnings, to his rise to prosperity in the Nixon administration, to ultimately controlling the free world through proxy, each step is a calculated move by Cheney.
The doc does an astounding job of telling the former Vice President's story from his own perspective. While there are guest commentators on both sides of the aisle giving their own thoughts and views, the film mostly focuses on Cheney's thought process throughout his life. There's no need to add a lot of commentary to Cheney's words, as the sincerity he exhumes gives the viewers everything they need to know. If you're a Bush/Cheney supporter, you will likely walk away with a better understanding of the man. If you looked at that 8 year period in American history as a series of disasters, you get a behind the scenes look of the thought process behind each decision.
It's Cheney's complete lack of empathy or understanding other people's views that struck this reviewer the most. At multiple times throughout the film, Cheney tries to proactively defend his decisions by stating that his job wasn't to be popular, but to get things done. Even the tag line of the film pulls a quote from Cheney: "If you want to be loved, go be a movie star." I don't believe anyone ever expects that administration to apologize, but the complete void of empathy regarding 9/11, the Iraq war, torture, or the economic collapse is truly astounding to see.
The film is educational, which as a documentary is all you can ask. Getting a glimpse into the personal life of this reclusive man was an experience, and for that, the film accomplishes what it set out to do. It's not a documentary to change the way you feel, but rather to enlighten the viewers to a period of history that will not soon be forgotten.
Individual Ratings
Enjoyment Factor: 8
Dialogue: n/a
Acting: n/a
Direction: 8
Audio/Visual: 7
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