The War Room

A fascinating look at the backstage machinations of the Clinton presidential campaign, "The War Room" is the latest effort by documentarian D.A. Pennebaker and his partner/wife Chris Hegedus. (Pennebaker is best known for his landmark works, "Don't Look Back" and "Monterey Pop.")

But Bill Clinton himself is basically a supporting player — albeit a significant one — in this fly-on-the-wall observation, which focuses itself primarily on Clinton's chief strategist, James Carville, and, to a lesser degree, communications director George Stephanopoulos.

All of the observations here are interesting as the film takes us through the New Hampshire primary, the debates, the highs and the lows of campaign tactics (the latter represented by Gennifer Flowers' accusations of Clinton's infidelity) and shows us the human emotions that flow through one's passionate devotion to a cause.

The Louisiana-born Carville holds nothing back, pacing the "war room," where strategy is plotted, and debating endlessly with his team about seemingly silly details, such as what kind of inflection Clinton should use in a TV ad spot.

The result is a surprisingly candid look at campaigning and Carville becomes the charismatic centerpiece, emerging as such over the course of the movie as he oozes Southern charm while exhibiting a take-no-prisoners attitude.

Stephanopoulos, meanwhile, is a button-down yuppie who is quiet and smooth, exhibiting little emotion, even when he's talking to an 11th-hour blackmailer who threatens to go public with allegations about Clinton's sexual shenanigans. That moment more than any other seems to illustrate just how smooth Stephanopoulos is, as he threatens and cajoles the unseen caller on the other end of the line, triumphantly concluding, "You'll know you did the right thing and didn't dishonor yourself."

Carville and Stephanopoulos are an interesting political Mutt and Jeff, but Carville is clearly the attention-getter here, and the star of Pennebaker's movie.

What's most interesting here, however, is the nagging notion that no matter how trivial any minor aspect of the campaign may seem, each and every step was a precise instrument in getting Clinton elected.

In fact, you may leave the theater believing that even that slight inflection in Clinton's voice during that TV ad spot might have made all the difference.

"The War Room" is not rated but would probably get a PG for profanity.