Review of Bob Roberts (1992) by Macdara C — 21 Nov 2010

Bob Roberts, played by Tim Robbins, is a conservative Bob Dylan type of character and he is on campaign for a Senate seat in the state of Pennsylvania, running against the incumbent Democrat, Brickley Paiste, played by Gore Vidal. He's like Bob Dylan because he presents political ideas as rebellious through folk music, but instead of being a liberal activist, he is a conservative activist. It is shot in a documentary style, but is all fiction giving the movie a moniker of Mockumentary. The "documentary" maker is a British filmmaker named Terry Manchester, played by Brian Murray, who is following his campaign.

The film begins with Roberts on the campaign playing his music to a large crowd chanting his name. He is singing song about how people complain to their leaders when they don't have a job and how people shouldn't be lazy. The campaign managers who discovered him at a coffeehouse, one of which has a tricky political history in the Iran-Contra Affair, are careful to make sure Bob is always being shown in a good light and tell the cameras to shut off when he is about to not look very good, even though they don't shut off and we get to see what happens. He gets angry about an investigative journalist who distrusts the government following him around and he says that the media is corrupt because they ask questions of the government and that the 60s were a "black stain on American history." He also claims that the proper job of a journalist is to be unbiased, but he doesn't care when a specific journalist is obviously in favor him. It is revealed that he was rebellious against his parents because they were peace-nicks and he thought he needed more discipline and he enrolled himself into military school. After many encounters with supporters and opponents he is "shot" by the nosey journalist and Bob Roberts wins the race. It is slowly shown that Bob was really okay and the gun was planted on the journalist and the truth is being hidden from the public. Terry Manchester tells one supporter that he doesn't think Roberts is right for the country when someone announces a person killed the reporter. The film ends at the Jefferson Memorial which says, "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.".

I really enjoyed this movie. The film's style is very unique in following a political campaign which shows the corruption underneath a charismatic candidate. It has a style that is very much like the movie This is Spinal Tap, which is directly referenced when Bob is lost in a hallway in an auditorium trying to find the stage. That movie is a really great movie and so is this one. The film also references the Bob Dylan documentary, Don't Look Back in the style and the music.

It seems to me that Bob Roberts was the first Tea Party candidate because of the portrayal of a conservative as a rogue where his party allegiance is never clarified. The only thing that could set that comparison apart is that he also was a Wall Street yuppie, which is not something the Tea Partiers like. The songs in the movie that are humorous and in this political climate now, I can actually imagine candidates on stage singing songs like "The Times are Changing Back" or "Drugs Stink.".

This has a lot to do American Government because it shows that people should be careful who they trust as political candidates in America because many politicians lie and use harsh campaigns to win over their opponent. Obviously it is over exaggerated in the movie to prove a point. People need to see through the charisma of politicians and make the informed decision, which Bob Roberts condemns throughout the movie.

This film is definitely liberal leaning, but the message rings true for most politicians.