Bush's Brain (2004)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Directors:

Joseph Mealey
Michael Shoob

Writers:

James C. Moore (book)
Wayne Slater (book)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

An examination of political consultant Karl Rove's influence on George W. Bush's candidacy. |

Plot Keywords:

George W. Bush | FBI | Wiretapping | U.S. President | Saddam Hussein

Cast

Lee Atwater	...	Himself (archive footage)
Osama Bin Laden	...	Himself (archive footage)
Cathy Bonner	...	Herself
Bruce Buchanan	...	Himself
Barbara Bush	...	Herself (archive footage)
George Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
George W. Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
Laura Bush	...	Herself (archive footage)
Max Cleland	...	Himself
William P. Clements Jr.	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bill Clinton	...	Himself (archive footage)
Shirley Cuff	...	Herself
Gray Davis	...	Himself (archive footage)
Alan Dixon	...	Himself (archive footage)
Robert Edgeworth	...	Himself
Kent Hance	...	Himself
Jim Hightower	...	Himself (archive footage)
Saddam Hussein	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bill Israel	...	Himself
Molly Ivins	...	Herself
Richard Leiby	...	Himself
Wade Lieseke Jr.	...	Himself
Susie Lieseke	...	Herself
Ken Luce	...	Himself
Garry Mauro	...	Himself
John McCain	...	Himself (archive footage)
Chuck McDonald	...	Himself
Dave McNeely	...	Himself
Bill Miller	...	Himself
Mike Moeller	...	Himself
James C. Moore	...	Himself
Jesse Oliver	...	Himself
Tom Pauken	...	Himself
Rick Perry	...	Himself (archive footage)
Chelle Lieseke Pokorney	...	Herself
Fredrick E. Pokorney	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ross Ramsey	...	Himself
Ann Richards	...	Herself (archive footage)
Karl Rove	...	Himself
A.R. Schwartz	...	Himself
Wayne Slater	...	Himself
Glenn Smith	...	Himself
Karl Struble	...	Himself
Jacques Vroom	...	Narrator
John Weaver	...	Himself
Mark White	...	Himself (archive footage)
Joseph Wilson	...	Himself

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Singapore:PG | USA:PG-13

Company:

BeBe Films Inc.

Needs work.

Bush's Brain was revealing, but loses focus near end. Shows that Rove has been sleazy -- very sleazy -- throughout his political career in Texas but not exactly how he manipulates George Bush today.

The 2000 Presidential campaign, the part of the movie that would have answered the film's opening question "How could this have happened?" is not really covered at all; rather the film goes abruptly ahead to the 9/11 episode. Film goes for pathos near end by showing a particular soldier who died early in Iraq thing, similar to Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11, but does not tie war dead specifically to theme of Rove's being Bush's Svengali and how "this" (Bush's presidency) could have happened.

As other viewers have commented, the film's own agenda, to show Karl Rove as a sinister villain, is in conflict with the visuals of Rove as a pleasantly pudgy, self-effacing nerd. There is a distinct danger that the audience may decide finally that that visual image wins, rather than the text of the movie. Remember the scene, apparently based on a true story I read, in Broadcast News where Holly Hunter's character shows a video of a worldwide domino competition in order to portray "soft news" in a negative light; instead the comical, diverting image of tumbling domino tiles is the only part of her recitation to which anyone pays attention. The Bush's Brain people should have learned from such examples and done more to show that Rove's commercial image is what's being contested.

Do see this movie, for the sake of the facts of Karl Rove's seamy career that it does succeed in showing. It's also a good example of combining "talking heads" with other footage in a documentary to keep the audience's level of alertness piqued now and then, compared to the occasionally dulling effect of recent anti-Bush documentaries Outfoxed and Uncovered. Ironically those two are far superior films.

Seems as if a more nearly complete documentary had been planned, but that this one was rushed into release in order to be timely and to influence voters before coming election. May, rather, hurt progressive agendas that this movie is not as well done as it should have been.