Man From Plains: The Film That Might Make Jimmy Carter a Movie Star

[babylonsister]

Man From Plains: The Film That Might Make Jimmy Carter a Movie Star

By Adam Howard, AlterNet. Posted November 5, 2007.

Man From Plains is a moving, redemptive portrait of a president and a presidency that has been unfairly maligned and reduced to a punchline for far too long.


There's a memorable moment in Man From Plains, the acclaimed new documentary starring former President Jimmy Carter, which takes place on a commercial airplane. In the middle of the flight, Carter makes his way down the aisle, greeting and shaking the passengers' hands. The audience in the theater thinks this scene will quickly dissolve or that Carter will eventually go from recognizing each person to simply waving. But instead the camera lingers long enough to show that Carter intends to meet every single passenger on the plane. They seem stunned, flattered and elated that such an important man would take the time out just to say hello.

Earlier in the film, as Carter watches one of the interns from The Carter Center deliver a speech, his face beams with his trademark toothy grin. When she finishes and Carter reaches the podium, he begins to tear up as he thanks the interns, genuinely moved by their enthusiasm and dedication to the causes he holds dear.

Man From Plains is filled with touching, lovely scenes such as these, and the film succeeds best when it attempts to be a character study of Carter. Directed by Academy Award winner Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia), the film follows Carter during his media tour for his infamous 2006 book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. The film touches on the uproar the book's title caused and the former president's passionate feelings about the crisis between Israel and Palestine. It also weaves together anecdotes and footage from Carter's triumph at the Camp David Accords in 1978.

more...

http://alternet.org/movies/66409/

[book_worm]

1. Not only is he a superb ex-president , but a better president than he has been given credit for

and in many cases ahead of his time.

[madinmaryland]

2. What really scares me, is that Robert Novak liked it and agrees

with Carter.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/05/AR2007110500204.html

..snip

The timing of the release of the new documentary "Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains" was not intentional. The movie is arriving in theaters just before the Bush administration's proposed Middle East conference in Annapolis, scheduled for the end of this month. But the former president's clarity on the Palestinian question contrasts sharply with George W. Bush's refusal to face reality, casting a pall over hopes to conclude his presidency with a diplomatic triumph.

In the film, Carter repeatedly and unequivocally states what Palestinian and Israeli peace advocates view as undeniable: to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace, with all its benefits for the world, Israel must end its illegal and oppressive occupation of the West Bank. That is a prerequisite that neither President Bush nor congressional leaders of both parties can approach for fear of being labeled anti-Israeli or even anti-Semitic (as Carter has been).

..snip

:scared:

[movonne]

3. What scares me is that I agree for maybe the first time with Novak..I

consider novak a traitor right along with the rest of the white house..