London Film Festival Review - Sarah Palin: You Betcha!

Nick Broomfield has explored the lives of many interesting people through his documentaries, most famously Eugene Terre’Blanche and Aileen Wuornos. In his latest film, he turns his camera towards Sarah Palin, the hockey mom that stormed onto the world stage in 2008 as John McCain’s running mate.  

The documentary follows Bromfield as he explores Sarah’s hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, in the dead of winter, hoping to interview the lady herself. Although he spends much of his time slipping on the ice while holding a boom mike, he manages to meet lots of interesting people and finds out about her childhood and rise to power – first as Wasilla’s mayor, then as Alaskan Governor. As it turns out, few of the people who will talk to him are still on speaking terms with Palin. He does, however, meet her parents, who seem very nice. They are a little concerned that he might be making a “hit piece”, though.

They are right to be concerned, because of course Broomfield is not a supporter of Sarah. The film paints a picture of a vindictive, two-faced woman with bizarre religious views who uses people only to drop them like a hot potato once they’ve outlived their usefulness. Unsurprisingly, he never gets his interview with Palin.  

While it is very interesting to see the people that have been left in the wake of the Palin Express, the point of this documentary may have been lost on me. I suppose the original idea was to expose her shortcomings so that her bid for the Republican nomination would be discredited. Unfortunately for the filmmakers (but fortunately for the world) she pulled out of the race shortly after the film was made, making this null and void. But even if she was still running it’s not like the crusading Nick Broomfield would have been a lone dissenting voice, or that anyone who supported her would have given two hoots about some British documentary.

What’s left is a portrait of Palin – a fascinating sociological phenomenon if ever there was one – and in that regard the film falls pretty short. For example, although it goes through her high school sports career in some detail, her relationship with her husband Todd is hardly mentioned. You don’t even find out when they got married, never mind the role he has played in her career (which is hinted at but never directly addressed). The most shocking omission, however, is that the strangest turn of events in Palin’s life isn’t explored – the sudden Republican Vice Presidential nomination in 2008. That error in judgement meant that what was Alaska’s problem became everyone’s problem. The only mention of it in the film reveals something very telling – that the usually long vetting process was cut down to just a few days by the GOP. Why on earth did they pick her?

The answer to that question is also the reason she is so fascinating, and therefore why Broomfield has made a documentary about her – because she is a woman, and a reasonably attractive one at that. The whole affair speaks volumes about America’s political climate, and her genuine popularity in some circles speaks volumes about America.

In hindsight, there was the opportunity here to film for slightly longer and do a real “rise and fall” piece, including all the good footage from Wasilla we see here. As it is, this is an out of date campaigning film, not detailed enough to give a deep exploration of the issues but jokey enough to be entertaining – even if it does take a lot of cheap shots to get a laugh.