Man Who Knew Bush

Year: 2004

Grade: B-

Country: USA

Director: Berlin

Review

not the same kind of anti-bush documentary that you’re used to. this one follows a distant relative of bush who tells of his one encounter with the president (while both men were drunk) and much more. he comments on the history of the family, of politics, of the schools bush attended, etc. he’s a virtual fountain of knowledge and that alone was worth the 75 minutes. that said, the film is not very focused and many might be turned off by this fact. from a filmmaking perspective the film has an interesting style. berlin seems to have a knack for editing in little buffer shots and infixes, to borrow a linguistic term. during interviews, for example, he’ll edit in a shot of the interviewee’s hands, or something similar. it’s good for pacing and feel as well as offering a more complete look at the person’s physical mannerisms and character; a nice touch. one interesting fact in the film was presented by a genealogist who said that the bush family are related (anywhere from 8th-12th cousin-relations) to 50% of the country. crazy.