Election
The lost art of the cinematic allegory combined with the razor sharp edge of biting satire is something we sadly don’t see enough of anymore, mostly because Hollywood now chooses to “play it safe” so as not to offend others of their own political orientation while convincing those whom they consider to be mindless hordes to allow themselves to be spoonfed their ways of thinking in how things ought to be with less than appealing results. But when something appears on our movie screens that features somewhat more than just a kernel of actual truth, it can be like a breath of fresh air that stays with the viewer when all the other manifestos have long since evaporated. That’s exactly what happened in 1999 with this film from director Alexander Payne, a guy who as it turns out employs a very unusual style in all of his films, extracting entertainment value from the seemingly mundane elements of small town, Midwestern society, with Nebraska being his primary story locations of choice, and also utilizing “real” people for small, ancilliary parts in his movies, like having real waitresses play waitresses and so on and so forth. This film turns out to be his Grand Masterpiece, despite some of the (very good) Oscar bait movies he came up with in later years. It employs the usage of creating a microcosm in the form of high school life as a metaphor for the real world as a whole, doing so successfully while still being funny with sometimes unexpected showings of humor. The story centers around a high school election for class president, and all the drama and scheming that goes on concerning that election. Running unopposed at the start of the film is Tracy Flick as played by Reese Witherspoon (ignored at Oscar time for this despite an armful of regional awards), and the brilliance of the script (and Witherspoon’s acting) is the fact that viewers are ultimately divided as to whether they should either symphasize with Tracy or despise her instead. This is due to the obvious character traits that she possesses, as although sweet and polite to a fault, she also has a driven, steely determination to succeed in her goals, whatever they may be, to the point of near psychotic obsession, instilled in her no doubt by her own mother who is an obvious nutcase herself. Despite her “nice” façade, there is little doubt that her ambition is so strong that she might actually be willing to slit some throats along the way to get where she wants to be. There’s also the matter of her loneliness and lack of a father figure in her life, which leads her to be taken advantage of and having those needs exploited by an older, married teacher who engages in a torrid affair with her only to be exposed as the obvious pervert that he is and thus be booted from his job as a teacher when Tracy’s mother catches on and his wife files for divorce and he is shamed into leaving town. Unfortunately for Tracy, her lecherous suitor who was run out on a rail had a best friend and fellow teacher played by Matthew Broderick, best known for playing the ultimate teenage high school subversive himself in Ferris Bueller, and this in itself is certainly subversive casting here as well watching an older Broderick play this part, as his Jim McCallister (based on your own points of view) can either be seen as the tragic hero or despicable villain of the piece (I go with the latter), as having lost his best friend because of what he perceives to be a fake goody two shoes go getter who used him, decides that the best revenge possible is to do everything he can (subversively of course) to derail Tracy’s campaign, and that is where things start to get out of hand, beginning when he convinces (or manipulates) the very popular, good natured, yet injured star high school quarterback (Chris Klein) to provide some unexpected opposition for Tracy and run against her for Class President. Klein, not the greatest of actors, does a nice job of playing a humble, well liked high school jock whom despite having a pea brain doesn’t seem to have even an ounce of meanness in his entire soul. One problem though: Unbeknownst to him, his new girlfriend is the former lesbian lover of his younger adopted sister Tammy (Jessica Campbell), who swears revenge on them by starting HER own campaign for Class President, and in so doing becomes in many ways arguably the best character in the movie, a force of chaos and disorder threatening to upset even Broderick’s best laid plans. All of this boils to a head leading to one of the greatest scenes in American Comedy History, when the three candidates give their campaign speeches, and fewer scenes have had more truth contained in them when it comes to deconstructing the clichés of our own country’s political process, with Tracy’s speech using the tired old “I spoke to so and so, so and so, and they told me…” bit, and then Klein gives a horribly yet hilariously delivered rah rah speech, and then Tammy steps up and steals the movie by declaring (in more ways than one) that no election ever means anything because nothing ever changes, and that she herself if elected will dismantle the student government forever, causing the student body to blow the roof off of the gymnasium cheering with a standing ovaton. Classic, brilliant moment. On the story goes, as Broderick (himself suffering from major sexual frustration due to his own intense attraction to Tracy) shows himself to not be such a paragon of virtue by lusting after and having an affair with his departed friend’s ex wife (who in turn rats him out to his own wife), Tracy tries to keep an even keel despite the mounting stress brought on by having such stiff competition, Klein happily cruises along and manages somehow to not have any hatred or animosity towards anybody despite the events that occur, and Tammy continues to find ways to throw every kind of monkey wrench she can think of into the proceedings. It all leads up to Broderick committing a breach of ethics that would be shameful by any educator’s standards, and everybody’s lives being changed forever yet continuing to go on since this election, like all elections, means absolutely nothing, with the only real power being held by those who never have to worry about their own authority being put to a vote, thus summing up an almost beautiful, perfect truth that transcends all political messages and raises this movie to the level of understated comedic masterpiece, well worth watching to both the John Hughes crowd and beyond…
10/10