SXSW Film Reviews

The Hunting of the President

Documentary Feature Special Screenings, Regional Premiere

Brush up on your history of troopergate, Whitewater, and Gennifer Flowers with The Hunting of the President, which details the well-funded effort to dig up some Arkansas dirt that could bring down Clinton. Based on a bestselling book, Harry Thomason and Nickolas Perry built their film on lengthy interviews with such Clinton-era characters as David Brock, the now-contrite conservative who broke troopergate for the right-wing magazine The American Spectator, and Susan McDougal, who served time for her failed S&L ventures rather than cut a deal with Ken Starr to make something up about her friend Bill. Illustrating their words are a kaleidoscope of old film clips and archival footage, often used metaphorically – an ambitious attempt to overcome the eternal challenge of how to give viewers of an interview-based historical documentary something to look at.

(Paramount, March 19, 12:30pm)