One Bright Shining Moment - The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern

This excursion into a pivotal season of our history is essential viewing. Unfortunately our sense of history seems to be overwhelmed by our information overload brought to us at the speed of light. This well thought out, very personal film brings a refreshing blend of film making, story telling, and biography to bring out vast details, many of which went under the radar, of a complex time in our nation's history. George McGovern's life and presidential campaign became a catalyst for politics and political movements that are still reverberating to this day.

The edit and design is organic, maintaining the feel of the period the story grew out of. You may be surprised of details you never knew about the man, stirred by memories of that season, or finally get some clarity as to how our current political culture arrived to the place it is now.

What you didn't know about Senator George McGovern and presidential candidate George McGovern is captured by director Stephen Vittoria in this documentary which should be required viewing by all who care about our country and our election process. But it's far more. It's the story of how a distinguished professor of history, with all the values and integrity that we would like to attribute to those who enter politics and determine much of our destiny, sacrifices a secure and magnificent life with his family, for that which might make our country safer, more respected, and less corrupt. He does this because he believes it can be done to save the lives of those young Americans dying needlessly in an unjustifiable war in Vietnam. And he does it so that he and his family and all Americans can have real hope for the future. That's what we wanted then, that's what we hoped for in our leaders then, and that's, oddly what we still want so desperately in this perilous world now. There are moments in the film that remind us of things you will recall or be fascinated to know because you didn't really know the truth then. Some of what you had thought, which you will see, was totally false. You'll not only learn of the frailty of our democracy due to television, election time, commercial spots but with 20-20 hindsite, you'll see how we, the American voters, were tricked. The comic, genius of political observation, Dick Gregory, and so many magificant observers of history in the film provide intelligent even humorous observations about our lives and our system of government. It really doesn't matter what side you're on. Considering where we find ourselves today, where our nation's young soldiers, men and women are fighting in Iraq, the film tells us, bluntly that we have not really learned, or grown, or done much about our historic blunders. It's shocking. In the time of George McGovern's presidential bid against President Nixon, who would later resign in disgrace (lest he be impeached and thrown out of office), we had a choice. We could correct the mistakes of how we go into war, in Vietnam under two administrations (Johnson and Nixon), in which lost us 60,000 Americans, and wounded so many more, or we could "stay the course," as we do today. This extraordinary look into our past is like a roadmap to the future. It demonstrates how the nature of American politics does not change nomatter how obvious the truth is, particularly delivered by a 500-1 shot as was McGovern. Senator McGovern, for over a decade, had opposed our involvement in the war in Vietnam and pledged, above all, that if elected he would bring our troops home and end the senseless deaths of our young and brave men and women, fighting soldiers. This film is a tribute to a man, a former fighter pilot (35 missions in WWII), a respected senator from South Dakota and candidate for the presidency. Smear tactics from Nixon's party's CREEP, that will shock you and amaze you, and even the strange occurrences related to the attempted assassination of George Wallace will make your jaw drop. But through it all Senator McGovern had hope and gave the working people hope, the poor and isolated people hope where none had existed since the days of President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. You'll see images and hear words of that time when it was marvelous to have someone with the courage. And you'll see the power of a political machine that constantly tried to crush him. I ask you to find this film. Order it online in DVD when it's out. Read the interview in VENICE MAGAZINE (written by Alex Simon and published by Nancy Bishop). This is so important to all of us if we are ever to have hope again about our nation and our leaders. And it's as appropriate now because we are again locked in a front page war that was so similar. Don't rob yourself of this great film about one great man who would have made a difference in this nation's course. There aren't many but it gives us a slim sense of hope that there might be someone to renew our hope again and make American all that we want it to be and make us safe.

I participated in Vietnam Summer (1967), campaigned for Gene McCarthy, and was an ardent supporter of McGovern's presidential bid even after the Eagleton fiasco. I hoped that this movie would bring back the excitement and conflict of that era. Instead, it exaggerates McGovern's virtues and everyone else's faults. The narrator makes derogatory comments about everyone else, even those who arguably are not so different from McGovern (smart, well intentioned, often effective, and human). Most of the movie is interviews with participants, including McGovern himself, who still has all the traits that made him attractive 35 years ago, including honesty about his mistakes. But many of those interviewed had peripheral roles at best and have little to say that is insightful or interesting. The big exception is Dick Gregory, who is full of clever analogies and insights.

Nixon / McGovern is the first presidential race that I can remember. I was in the third grade, so of course I did not understand the issues. All I knew was that my parents supported Nixon and my college aged brother supported McGovern.

History classes in elementary and high school never got past WWII, so this film helped me fill a gap. One of the deleted scenes explains how the U.S. first got involved in Vietnam and perhaps should have been the opening of the film.

It is great that they were able to capture McGovern in his own words while he was still alive. There are wonderful insights by Dick Gregory, Gore Vidal, and Gloria Steinem. Some of the other "talking heads" added very little and should have been excluded or cut way down. Framing them in extreme close ups made for unpleasant viewing.

The rest of the film is both too much and too little. The film opens with footage of Bush II, Clinton, etc. in what may have looked current when the film was made, but now just seems dated. It also hits you over the head with the creator's political agenda. The film returns several times to political events of the 80's, 90's, etc that have nothing to do with McGovern. It's a pointless (and wildly speculative) "look what happened because McGovern wasn't elected" argument.

The narration is over the top severe, but blandly delivered by a woman who sounds like she is reading a script.

We know how brutal Vietnam was. After a while, the repeated footage of body parts and mutilated people seemed gratuitous. We get the point.

Meanwhile, news footage that would have brought the past to life is missing. We hear about a debate in which fellow Democrat Humphrey brutally attacked McGovern. Why not show it?

McGovern's wife is barely mentioned and we learn almost nothing about her. Ditto for his children. If he had any life outside of politics, we weren't shown it. His political career ended in 1972. What did this man do for the next 40 years?

The film assumes too much knowledge of people and events. Muskie, Wallace, Humphrey, and other names and faces flash by with little explanation of who they were. As a yearbook for McGovern campaign workers, this may not be needed, but for educational purposes, this should have been included.

This film could have used an independent editor. I recommend this film, but if you weren't following the events when they occurred, you may have to supplement it with outside reading.

"One Bright Shining Moment" is an informative look at a largely forgotten era in American politics. The film does an excellent job of recapturing the emotions of a divided nation struggling to define itself, and creates a sympathetic portrait of those who pinned their hopes of a better future on one man who - despite his best intentions - lost the Presidency in a landslide. The filmmakers do much to rehabilitate George McGovern as a decent, principled Midwestern politician who was driven not by ruthless ambition but by sheer conviction. All of this is done through interviews with McGovern himself and those who followed him into the field of political battle. Figures who've since drifted into obscurity - Gary Hart, Ron Kovic, Gloria Steinem - reemerge in intimate discussions about the 1972 campaign and contemporary issues that I found fascinating.

But the documentary also suffers from uneven pacing due to the inclusion of either irrelevant or excessively long interviews that mostly serve to advance the speaker's own opinions. The film's basic narrative structure is confused: on multiple occasions the story deviates from the 1972 campaign, alternatively to focus on McGovern's early career or attack his political opponents in both parties. As informative as it is, the documentary engages in hero worship of McGovern that side-steps his flaws and ignores the fact that his nomination was engineered by Nixon to ensure his own re-election. McGovern's crushing loss is mostly brushed aside almost as a footnote, and no mention is made of how the 1972 disaster helped push the Democrats away from the liberal vision of America that McGovern fought for; it's hard to see how McGovern was vindicated in the end as the filmmakers suggest.

I wish I could say that the direction makes up for the film's storytelling problems, but the filmmaking is amateurish with a heavy reliance on the "Ken Burns" visual effect, sloppy transitions, and a low-grade soundtrack. This would be fine for a student film, but not for a feature-length documentary. All in all "One Bright Shining Moment" stumbles but is nonetheless an informative look at an important period in American history. 7/10.