The Final Year

And still a feeling that some of the great things that were done might fall apart. And don't get it twisted, this is not here to applaud everything President Obama did. (Un)fortunately it also does not shine too much light on what went wrong during his last couple of months. Then again, can you blame him for the failures of the DNC? This is not what the movie is about. It is there to observe and get a bit of the daily work that was done.

But also the humans behind it all. Just like everyone else they have their character traits, which can be seen as good or bad. It also might be seen as a warning shot of what is to come. All the deals and everything that has been done. Not being involved in scandals, not ridiculing others or having petty "wars" with the press. There was dignity ... and it got lost. This may not be great, but while watching it and seeing the struggles the current administration goes through ... well maybe it's better not to watch, as in too soon ... still too soon

We had smart people in position of leadership in this country? Remember when people in the Obama administration traveled around the world and cared about the interests of other people on this planet? It seems like a lifetime ago. We may never have a President as bright and thoughtful as Barack Obama. It was refreshing to observe members of his staff and to hear some of Obama's speeches.

Hopefully, we will never have another President as woefully unfit and hateful as Donald Trump -- the worst President in U.S. history.

When evaluating anything of a political nature, the first thing I usually do is throw away any scale ratings of it. Just the sheer fact of Obama's face being on the thumbnail of this doc will affect opinions, much as, say, current President Trump would for other population segments. As such, I really tried to ignore what I found to be a pretty low rating and just go into "The Final Year" with no expectations at all. What I found was a doc that (smartly) expresses almost no political opinions of its own, and instead basically sets up a camera and lets it roll inside the last year/months of the Obama Administration (focusing on foreign policy).

Besides former President Obama himself, this doc most closely focuses on four members of his admin: John Kerry, Samantha Power, & Ben Rhodes. An insider's point of view is given on what their day-to-day life entailed in 2016 and how the entire administration really viewed that year as a race to cement the progress they felt they had made over the past seven.

What I found most fascinating about this documentary is how, sheerly because of what immediately follow its events (Donald Trump being elected President), it sets up an interesting contrast between styles. Though Trump's foreign policy administration is never covered here, it is fairly common knowledge that he proceeds with a much heavier hand than his Democratic successor, favoring threats of military force and personal bluster over in-the-trenches diplomacy. The Obama foreign policy team could not have been more different, as this doc shows how hard they worked (right, wrong, or neither) to patch up old historical wounds and deal with problems via words and accords instead of wars and threats.

Another thing I found to be interesting about "The Final Year" is that it is presented almost completely "without comment", so to speak, by the filmmakers. Never once do we get a moment where they sit down and pontificate on what is transpiring. Even those types of reflections are done on camera by the main subjects being interviewed. In this case, I really like that approach because it doesn't set out to "prove" or "disprove" anything. This is strictly what it sets out to be: A look inside Obama's last year as President through the primary lens of his foreign policy decisions & actions...take it or leave it.

I very much enjoyed "The Final Year", but also confess that my political beliefs lean more "blue" than "red" in the first place. However, trying to be objective for a moment, I honestly don't think there is anything in this doc that is outrageous or untruthful. Whether or not you agree with the ideas being espoused is up to you. The filmmakers are just giving you the option here.

A highly entertaining look into the final year of a well respected president who managed to turn around a recession. Compared to the current train wreck in the white house it is interesting to see such a massive contrast in even basic values such as professionalism, compassion, and humility.

This film was fascinating because it uncovers, through a number of candid moments, the vulgar pride of these brash young intellectuals. It made my skin crawl to actually see and hear them in the flesh (or at least on a big screen...). These young idealists, including President Obama, could perhaps have done something productive for our country if they had been able to get a proper education in their youth. Tragically, they weren't - and the shallow education (or perhaps more accurately, indoctrination) they did receive has led them to operate on a shallow and incomplete set of moral principles, leading them to make short-sighted policy decisions that ultimately hurt our own people, and people around the world, in the long-term. They just aren't able to grasp the context of their decisions in the grand scheme of things. Our nation's leadership under Obama is a story of misplaced intelligence.