Watched: Mitt
I managed to get access to someone’s Netflix account recently, and aside from being totally daunted by the sudden inflation in the films I have yet to watch from about 250 (owned) to thousands (online), I was excited to watch this.
I am fascinated by what makes people tick, especially the people who turn into media caricatures that couldn’t possibly reflect their actual personalities. Watching this, it’s not a radical reshaping of Mitt Romney’s persona in a positive light, but it humanises him in a way that his presidential campaign never did. He’s still the Mormon flip-flopper, but here he’s more than aware of that term, and you can see him getting openly frustrated as each of his campaigns sour. Even more interesting is the ever-shifting family dynamic; Josh Romney is easily the most candid, to the point where there’s a period in this film where he feels more like the subject.
There will be some people for whom the idea of Mitt Romney as a terrible person gets in the way of finding anything interesting in this film. They’re still background truths here, though - while he doesn’t mention his healthcare reversal, he does accuse John McCain of lying on the subject of gay marriage, stating that he never advocated for it (counter to McCain’s accusation of proposing it in Massachusetts). It’s a strange moment - you’re entranced by his fervour and frustration with the political machine, but at the same time are made fully aware that he’s a man with the wrong views.
This is really a film that’s more about the stresses that two election campaigns can put on a family, and a worthy reminder that even the worst people have their own private lives to deal with. When the car pulls up to the house in the last shot, shortly after Romney has lost the presidential election, it’s a strangely still moment. Divested of power, he and his family seem oddly pitiful.