Review: Weiner

I have not seen many film documentaries this year. However, I am always excited to see one as this particular genre has developed so much over the last few years. They are now respected and praised as much as feature films and some feature in many peoples top 10 films of the year lists.

I had heard a fair amount of buzz from this one from the Sundance Film Festival at the start of the year. That alone got me wanting to see this, even though I know nothing about this story that was heavily covered in the American media.

After seeing it, I bet the film-makers could not believe what this ended up being. This was initially planned to be a big comeback story, ended up being something completely different. The unprecedented access that is given to this campaign makes it utterly compelling viewing. It really was amazing how much they were allowed to film, as any decent man with simple logic would have said to not film certain things that would put them in a bad light. But in the end, the camera  effectively becomes a fly-on-the-wall and we see the transformation of the people involved was gripping to say the least.

It is clear to see that our main character Anthony Weiner is a very good politician and is by far the front-runner to win this election and become a successful mayor of New York City. Sadly for him, what we see transpire is one of the interesting character study pieces I have seen.

Your views on Anthony Weiner will go up and down like the biggest roller-coaster you can imagine. At one point you are totally backing and supporting him. But before you know it, you just can't believe how much he messed his career and life up.
It is amazing to see how his core strengths gradually become his downfall once the media and the majority of the public turn on him.
I and am sure many others will get a lot of mixed emotions after seeing this. I mainly felt sad and sympathetic as you could see Anthony Weiner looked like a really good politician, shock at how the media run this story and politics in general and disgust at how Weiner kept making the same mistakes that ruined his first campaign.
I think in the end, Anthony Weiner just can't help but show his vulnerability and strange fetishes that becomes his downfall not only in politics, but in his life.

When you look at certain previous presidents and their own scandals, the public eventually forgive them for that. I think that decision of forgiveness really comes down to how the media cover that particular individual. This film shows how the American media cover politics really well.

This surely has to be at the very least a nominee at the Oscars for Best Documentary. It is such a fascinating story that is very accessible and a riveting watch. I will be surprised if this does not end up in my top 10 of the year list.

Rating: 8/10