This HBO movie chronicling of the Florida recount of the 2000 U.S. presidential election will have you worrying about our political process. While its main character is on the Gore team, the film argues that when it comes to counting votes, the opposing sides are far more interested in the ones being counted for them. That seems fairly obvious, but when courts and elected officials put party allegiance above the will of the people we have a problem in this country whether we're on the winning side or the losing one.
Ron Klain (Kevin Spacey, AMERICAN BEAUTY) was Gore's chief campaign manager until he was fired. Then he was later hired back in a lower function. When he's offered a post in Gore's possible transition team, he declines what he sees as a demotion. When it seems the election has been called too early in Florida, he becomes the chief champion for hand recounts. Standing in his way is Republican strategist James Baker (Tom Wilkinson, MICHAEL CLAYTON), who will try every legal trick in the book to prevent the recount from going forward. His chief tool (tool being the key word) was Katherine Harris (Laura Dern, BLUE VELVET), the Florida secretary of state, who did everything in her power to stand in the way of the Gore campaign's requests, believing that God placed her in this political storm.
Directed by Jay Roach (MEET THE PARENTS) and written by Danny Strong, the film pieces together the backroom dealings of the key players. Klain is painted as a dedicated man whom just wants to find out the real winner of the election. He even questions whether he likes Gore at one point. His mentor Warren Christopher (John Hurt, THE ELEPHANT MAN) is portrayed as a man more interested in a peaceful transition than fighting for his man. Baker is a skillful political operative who has no qualms striking first blood and standing his ground. Harris, in a remarkable performance from Dern, fairs the worst. She is painted as a fool, whom barely knows the laws she is supposed to be enforcing. After declaring in a press conference that she is building a "firewall" around her office to keep political influence out of her decisions, we see her following lock step with Bush advocate Mac Stipanovich (Bruce McGill, W.), who has all but moved into her office. Michael Whouley (Denis Leary, TV's RESCUE ME) and David Boies (Ed Begley Jr., BEST IN SHOW) are Gore advocates who passionately defend the right for hand recounts, stating that the intent of the voters trumps all other arguments.
From left leaning courts rulings to right leaning political hacks to butterfly ballots to chad of all kinds, RECOUNT captures all the bizarre events that led up to George W. Bush being declared the president of the United States. When the Supreme Court rules that uniform standards need to be set, but in the same breath throws up their hands on recounts because of some arbitrary deadline, democracy seems shaky. When more than 20,000 legal voters are purged from the voter logs because their names are similar to convicted felons, democracy is shaky. When one side demonizes the other and party comes before country, democracy is dead. That's what this film argues so effectively.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
