One Bright Shining Moment - The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern

"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.

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.

Stephen Vittoria performs a public service with this dynamite doc on George McGovern, a man who embodies what all Americans who aspire to public service should be. McGovern's inherent decency cost him one of the nation's most crucial Presidential elections in 1972, running against the original king of dirty tricks, Richard Milhouse Nixon. Although McGovern's platform was somewhat vindicated when Nixon's White House was outed by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as the most corrupt administration in American history (with Tricky Dick's resignation soon following), the tragedy of his loss, and his subsequent fade into the background of American history still resonates.

Hopefully our best and brightest young people will see this film and will be inspired by Sen. McGovern and his message to enter public service, and contribute to making this country and this planet a better place. As of right now, we have nowhere to go but up! Kudos to you, Steve, and bravo Senator 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.

George McGovern is a war hero of WW2 come home to teach the world the hard won lesson of peace. This documentary interviews some of his closest campaign workers and shows footage of his early years in politics FOOD FOR PEACE and his early elections. Bright and shining late at night in sincere work of conventioneers, un-orchestrated as are the fake campaigns of corporation candidates of before and after. Listen and look at the days once when a man of the people sought to remove a corrupt President from office, who did resign for crimes committed before and after the 1972 election. Watch this historic saga of democracy by people, not bribed agents of corruption. The inspiration you may find can guide you in the current race for the White House by Dr Jill Stein @JillStein2012 www.jillstein.org