AL FRANKEN: GOD SPOKE
God also laughs (and cries out), with Al Franken's help
PopcornReel.com Movie Review: "Al Franken: God Spoke"
By Omar P.L. Moore/October 8, 2006
"Al Franken: God Spoke" is a highly-entertaining
90-minute festival of politics, passion and humor -- and for all the laughs in
this latest documentary from Nick Doob and Chris Hegedus ("The War Room")-- is a
remarkably serious document about the state of America and how media from the
right-wing of the U.S. political spectrum have become the standard bearers for
news and talk radio, influencing and shaping much of the country with deception
in its news accounts. Franken himself alludes to it in a conversation
early on in the film, and he is clearly angry and frustrated by it. "I
take what they say and use it against them. What I do is jujitsu.
They say something ridiculous and I subject them to scorn and ridicule.
That's my job," the comedian turned political satirist and policy wonk says,
before an audience of math students at Boston University. In a
particularly funny and powerful episode before the same students he exposes the
lie that Brit Hume of Fox News admits he blundered on in comparing the murder
rate of U.S. soldiers in Iraq (20 million population of which 130,000 are U.S.
troops) with the murder rate of California (32 million population) by saying
that the countries are a similar size geographically -- in order to explain that
the murder rate for troops is not so bad in Iraq. This type of logical
fiction draws a laugh from the students but the mood turns serious in an instant
when Franken states "kids not much older than you are dying over there. . . ".
The looks on the students' faces say it all as they register the weight of they
are hearing.
Moments like these make "God Spoke" an especially revealing documentary.
Shot in cinema-verite style, the film evolves as its subject does in an organic
way, from Mr. Franken's career as a political satirist and comedian to an
impassioned advocate and potential candidate for U.S. senate in Minnesota in
2008. Doob and Hegedus capture Franken on his trails, from the promotion
of his 2004 best-selling book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair
and Balanced Look at the Right, to his feud with Bill O'Reilly of Fox News,
to his debate with Ann Coulter (which was truncated in the film because Coulter
declined to grant permission for the filmmakers to use it), to his crossroads
moment when it appears that Franken is all but declaring his intention to run
for Minnesota's U.S. senate seat against Norm Coleman. "God Spoke" works
like a conventional feature film. It has a lead character, a story that
takes some twists and turns, and a moment when the character transforms from
observer to a hero of sorts.
Franken, who started out on Saturday Night Live in the 1970's with his unique
brand of humor, works as vigorously in political circles as he does with any of
his quick-witted, ironic comedy. He stumps for candidates, goes to
fundraisers, mingles at Republican gatherings while ridiculing some of his
political rivals, and gets on talk radio shows with hosts (like Michael Medved)
that he has major disagreements with when it comes to the veracity of what they
say on the air. Franken goes ballistic when Medved falsely claims that
Democrat-turned-Republican stumper Zell Miller does not mention anything about
Apache helicopters in his vitriolic speech at the 2004 Republican National
Convention in New York.
A publicity shot of Franken during his show on
"Air America Radio; at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City
when he encounters what he feels is a surprise member of that political party:
"what are you doing here?," he asks this man in the ten-gallon hat.
(Photos: Balcony Releasing)
"God Spoke" features some utterly priceless moments: conservative talk-radio
host Sean Hannity's impromptu appearance on Franken's Air America Radio show,
which he initially started out hosting with now former co-host Katherine Lanpher
(who is funny here); Franken's meeting Henry Kissinger at a Republican party
where the satirist does a Kissinger impression in his presence; his fundraiser
appearance for the radio show in which he curses at and makes fun of Democratic
senators; and at a show where he impersonates vice president Cheney and has him
swearing at Senators Hillary Clinton and Barbara Boxer; and at the Republican
National Convention when he comes across Karen Hughes, former White House
communications director and policy consultant and asks about the U.S.
president's drunk driving incident from the seventies. "Liar!" he utters,
after she leaves.
Nick Doob and Chris Hegedus conjure up emotion
in their subject through a couple of turning point events in recent American
politics: the untimely (and some feel suspicious) death of Minnesota democratic
senator Paul Wellstone in October 2002, just 13 days before that state's
election for U.S. senate (won by Norm Coleman), and the defeat of Senator John
Kerry by president George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election. These
two events transform Franken into action. By the time we get to this
point, we have seen what has made Franken the man he is, from the influence of
his late parents, to the strong, loving and sturdy hand of his charismatic wife
Franni, to the passion and dedication of the late Paul Wellstone and his family.
By this time, we have reveled in a kaleidoscope of emotions, which means that
Doob and Hegedus have done their job as documentary filmmakers better than well.
Copyright 2006. PopcornReel.com. All Rights Reserved.
"Al Franken: God Spoke" opened last Friday in San Francisco and surrounding cities and has been in release in New York City and Los Angeles over the last few weeks. The documentary is continuing to make its way around the country. The film's duration is 90 minutes and it is not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. Be prepared to laugh and be moved.