Washington Post Reviews "The Undefeated"

It certainly says something about the upcoming documentary, The Undefeated, based on Governor Palin's life and record, that a media organization as hostile as the Washington Post is to her, could write a review this fair. In an article published at WaPo today, they wrote:

Produced and directed by conservative filmmaker Steve Bannon, “The Undefeated” was not paid for by Palin, nor did she influence its content in any way, Bannon said at a screening of the film for reporters Thursday morning in the offices of small video production company in Arlington.

You wouldn’t know it from the deeply sympathetic movie, which portrays Palin as a devoted wife and mother — and a hugely successful political leader whose quintessentially Alaskan spirit propelled her to stand up to corporate interests and the political establishment both as mayor of Wasilla and governor of Alaska.

[...]

The movie begins with the story of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, a disaster that Palin’s husband, Todd, described as “heartbreaking” — and that Palin cites in her autobiography, “Going Rogue,” as one of the defining events that propelled her to seek public office.

“I was a young mother-to-be with a blue-collar husband heading up to the slope,” Palin said. “If I ever had a chance to serve my fellow citizens, I would do so, and I’d work for the ordinary hardworking people.”

“The Undefeated” explores Palin’s rise to mayor of Wasilla and credits her with bringing a fiscally conservative philosophy to the job and for opening up the region as a booming bedroom community to Anchorage. It also explores her term as governor, characterizing her as standing up to oil companies over drilling rights, successfully advocating to build a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope and facing down cronyish state lawmakers in the pocket of the energy industry.

The movie includes no direct interviews with Palin, but it does feature the former governor reading short excerpts from “Going Rogue.” Bannon said he met with Palin a few weeks ago in Phoenix, where she told him the movie “blew her away.”

[..]

t also reminds viewers how popular Palin was as an elected leader in Alaska: She won reelection to mayor of Wasilla with more than 70 percent of the vote, and she resoundingly defeated then-governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary for governor in 2006. Before she became Sen. John McCain’s running mate in 2008, her approval rating among Alaskans soared above 80 percent.

The movie is clearly structured to push back against the widely held view that Palin lacks the leadership experience or skills to be president. Bannon, the director, even compared Palin’s term as governor to that of former President George W. Bush, concluding: “What she accomplished in Alaska is demonstrably much more impressive than what he accomplished as governor of Texas.” He added: “I wouldn’t have made this film if I didn’t think we needed a leader like her, and I hope she runs for president.”

You can read the article in it's entirety here.