The Undefeated

This is so unspeakably dreadful, by my own assessment I should say no more.

This is not a movie. It's an infomercial and like most infomercials it is riddled with omissions, exaggerations and downright lies. From the erroneous title -- she was defeated twice, once in the Alaskan primary for lieutenant governor and, of course, as John McCain's running mate, through the over-the-top, ridiculous imagery of lions eating zebras, boxers, etc. and let us not forget the mushroom cloud, it would be a total embarrassment to anyone with the brains to know what embarrassment is.

I might have given it one point more if finally someone had told us the real reason the woman quit as governor.

People expecting to watch The Undefeated and see a polarizing, divisive Sarah Palin might be disappointed. The real Sarah Palin shown in this film is more about battling corruption than scoring cheap political points. Afterall, this is the woman who enjoyed a sustained 80% approval rating governing the state of Alaska, where more than two-thirds of the electorate are independent. This is the woman who turned in her state party chairman for ethics violations. He later received the largest ethics fine in state history.

Sarah Palin had high approval ratings in Alaska because she worked in bi-partisan fashion to pursue popular reforms, including a nearly unanimous and sweeping ethics law, a new system for calculating oil royalties, and the blueprint for a $40 billion natural gas line.

Since being picked as a VP candidate, this popular governor has been subjected to more bizarre scrutiny than any VP candidate in history.

I challenge skeptics to watch this film with an open mind to see the popular reformer who took on the special interests in her home state.

It is too bad that, given the way Palin was sprung on the American people, that this movie is so entirely biased. A true look at all sides of her record would be enlightening and helpful. Instead we get an amateurish, poorly recorded, one-sided diatribe that does nothing more than blow smoke. The subject (Palin) aside, this is a deeply bad movie--poorly written, scored, filmed, put together. Worse than some high-school projects or even you-tube videos. The images of the animal attacks that accompany and/or follow some star's critiques of Palin are laughable. Obviously the director/writer has seen & taken notes from Leni Riefenstahl and her propaganda films. Tell a falsehood over & over, make the subject look pretty & facts no longer matter.

SAVE your money! and your brain cells!

The trouble with Sarah Palin is most of us have already made up our minds about her and for the most part negatively. If Stanley Kubrick directed a positive film about her, and threw in all the spaceships, monkeys, atomic blasts and Alex's he could muster, we'd hate it still. We come to this film seeking comedy or horror. And Stephen Bannon is no Stanley Kubrick.

Bit of background. I'm an American living in Barcelona. The Europeans I've spoken about her with, those who've been paying any attention, either loathe her or are genuinely puzzled by her ascension. Bearing that in mind, a Catalan friend obtained a copy through some interwebz magic and invited myself and girlfriend to watch.

From the opening the room was filled with laughter. They were likely relying more on the subs and may have experienced a very different film from myself but our reactions were the same. Laughter, then boredom. A few more snickers then everyone turned their attention away from the screen and to the wine and the company.

Long story short, it was a campaign ad. A very, very long ad that only those smitten by Palin will likely watch.

With all the glowing reviews you'd think this film would have a rating over 8, instead of the dismal 1.6 reflective of some of the worst films ever made. This means the people who loved it (or love Sarah Palin) took the time to write a review, while the vast majority who thought it was complete garbage didn't bother. There is only one conclusion one could extrapolate from this: Palin supporters are a dedicated, but very much in the minority.

I don't think this was the worst film ever made, but let's be clear that this was a fluff piece for the main subject. Politically it's no more nor less one-sided than a Michael Moore doc, but at least Michael Moore brings awareness to a particular subject of topical interest rather than simply shameless self-promotion. Even as a bit of propaganda, The Undefeated is heavy-handed, too long, unsubtle, and lacks an engaging narrative structure.

I noticed that most of the positive reviewers also had never reviewed another film besides this one, suggesting they created a profile just to promote The Undefeated.

If you're huge fan of Palin, have $10-15 to burn, and want to spend 2 hours hearing about how wicked her detractors are and how awesome she is, then this documentary might be for you. Or you could just read some of the glowing 'reviews' here and get the gist of the type of person who would love it. Personally, I wish I had accidentally walked into the wrong theater and saw Captain America instead.