Review by postmanwhoalwaysringstwice

The impressively assembled documentary feature "The Hunting of the President" traces the decade long attempt by several key figures on the "right" side of the proverbial aisle to discredit the candidacy and then the presidency of former U.S. President William Jefferson Clinton. The film is based on the bestseller by the same name by Joe Canason and Gene Lyons, so this companion piece plays out like a flashy abridged version of many of the events depicted in that exposé. The film follows the many ways that the character and credibility of Clinton was chiseled at again and again by these figures from his position as Arkansas governor through his impeachment trials as President, as well as the quickly developed conservative media that began to sell lies as history. Some of the uncovered distortions presented here do feel like low level conspiracy theories, or at the very least something out of the Amy Fisher story. Like all politically charged documentaries this one does take sides, but given so many ethical quandaries it's hard not to agree with its stance. Morgan Freeman, the new go-to guy for documentary narration, adds a certain dignity to the film whose movie-of-the-week narrative often becomes stylistically irritating. In the end like him or hate him, love him or leave him, Clinton is not the tragic figure in "The Hunting of the President". That space is left open for the likes of Susan McDougal who was imprisoned for two years for refusing to commit a crime. The story behind that is something well worth watching.