GIULIANI TIME
Peeling off the Emperor's clothes, frame by
frame
PopcornReel.com Film Review: "Giuliani Time"
By Omar P.L. Moore/May 11, 2006
Filmmaker Kevin Keating lays out a meticulous and
methodical case that former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani is not the
mighty leader that many in America have portrayed him to be. "Giuliani
Time", a documentary which got its name first through an allegation made by
Abner Louima, a victim of police brutality in New York City -- who has since
retracted that the two words were uttered by an officer who brutally assaulted
him with plunger stick -- is a film that leaves no stone unturned in the search
for the truth about Mr. Giuliani as a person and a political leader, both before
and after the horrific events of September 11, 2001.
The documentary a probing and dense chronicle of investigation, revelation and surprising video footage that many both inside and outside New York City have not seen, provides a powerful and stunning view of just how unpopular Mr. Giuliani was with a great majority of New York City residents, despite his two terms in office. From Mr. Giuliani's in-fighting with top city officials like the former New York police commissioner William Bratton (who is now commissioner in L.A.) to the Education chancellor Rudy Crew, Mr. Keating, aided by the narration and frequent contributions of investigative journalist Wayne Barrett of The New York Village Voice newspaper, hits the target of Mr. Giuliani not because of personal dislike of the man, but because of what he sees as policies which have devastated the fabric of the city that Mr. Keating loves and engendered bitterness in many New Yorkers, even as the rest of America clings to what they have been told is "America's Mayor". The other reason is that Mr. Giuliani through his handlers, and the film "Giuliani Time", makes no secret of the fact that the former mayor is keenly interested in a run for president of the United States.
Defending the police in the wake of the shooting of Amadou Diallo in 1999,
then-New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, in a shot from "Giuliani Time".
(Photo: Crosswalks Television)
"Giuliani Time" is not, contrary to what some have already said, an exercise in attack journalism, or an op-ed piece, which some had accused "Fahrenheit 9/11" of being. Unlike Michael Moore's film on the current U.S. president, Mr. Keating's documentary humanizes Mr. Giuliani, starting with his humble origins in the 1930's in a part of Brooklyn, New York that was then known as "Pig City", to his growing up Catholic "law school was the first time where I didn't say prayer in school," to his start in the U.S. District Attorney General's office for New York's Southern District. Then the film moves into the depths of politics and personal frailties, while investigating Mr. Giuliani's family background, one fraught with controversy as to whether his late father was part of the organized crime scene.
There is so much to absorb in Mr. Keating's film -- and much has been covered on this website on it (see below). At just under two hours, "Giuliani Time" ticks away very slowly and very quickly at the same time. The film is a strong statement on political ambition, corruption, power and damage. Even those who admire the former mayor will have to look carefully and see that this probing documentary is researched to the "t" and pulls no punches as it aims squarely at a highly controversial political figure and strips him bare in the process.
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