Summary:
The Vice President is dead and the President seeks to place Senator Laine Hanson in the open spot. Meanwhile, Senator Shelly Runyon opposes the nomination, and seeks to make his own moves.
My Thoughts:
This movie is a thousand times more relevant in 2020 than it was when it came out twenty years ago. This is a film about corrupt politicians (I mean, Trump is president…), sex scandals (#MeToo), and the double standard of what is moral in the eyes of the American people. “The Contender” might be a bit heavy handed towards the end, but aside from that, it is an incredibly poignant and powerful political thriller.
“Principles only mean something when you stick to them when it’s inconvenient.”
Weeks after the Vice President’s death, President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges, “The Big Lebowski”) searches the senate for a good candidate to step into the open position. The most obvious choice is Jack Hathaway (William Petersen, “Manhunter”), but Evans wants to make putting a woman in office his swan song, so he instead nominates Senator Laine Hanson (Joan Allen, “The Bourne Ultimatum”). As the vetting process begins, Senators Shelly Runyon (Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour”) and Reginald Webster (Christian Slater, “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”) grill Laine on a variety of issues. Photos emerge of Hanson engaged in a sexual act, and rumors emerge that in College, Hanson was part of a drunken gangbang. Hanson refuses to comment, further complicating the process.
I think this movie is great all around, but lets start with the writing. Perhaps it’s just because of my growing interest in politics over the past few years (it’s sort of hard to avoid politics nowadays), but this film is 99% talking about policy, politics, and the moral standards we hold those that represent us, and all of it is engaging and interesting. This film is incredibly intelligent and well written (though it gets slightly heavy-handed at the end). It feels very much like a script we’d see from Aaron Sorkin- the characters are witty and quick, but they’ve all got their own personalities; the pacing is snappy, constantly moving from one revelation to another; and the themes, incredibly poignant. With the subjects that came up during the Brett Kavanaugh hearing this last year, and after all we’ve learned about Trump and his affairs with porn stars, watching this film almost feels like Déjà vu, but this film gives us a refreshing feminist spin.
The acting in this film is also really good, but Joan Allen steals practically every scene. Her character goes through an ordeal that is horrifyingly personal and embarrassing, and she has to do it while the whole world is watching and she has to maintain her dignity so that her male coworkers won’t question her qualifications. There is one scene in particular, towards the end of her hearing, where the senators she is facing grill her on the fact that she is an atheist, and her support for woman’s right to choose. In that scene, she gives an impassioned speech about why she believes separation of church and state is important, and goes on to say that her church is the ‘Chapel of Democracy’- this very country. Her speech there was wonderfully powerful and gave me chills pretty much from the moment she started speaking. Jeff Bridges also has a few great moments, particularly his speech towards the end about differing kinds of greatness. I was honestly most surprised by Sam Elliot (“A Star is Born”), who showed enormous range (without his trademark mustache).
(SPOILERS FOLLOW)
Towards the end of the film, there are a few revelations that recontextualize the whole of the movie. I am going to spoil a huge portion of the film here, so if you have plans to watch it, but haven’t yet, I would skip to the verdict. Senator Hanson eventually sits down with President Evans to discuss what actually happened the night she supposedly participated in the gangbang, and it’s revealed that she actually hadn’t participated; the whole story was made up by the other side as a way to damage her character. Evans asks her why she hadn’t refuted the claim, as she easily could have proven that it wasn’t her, and Laine responds that she needed to be an example for all girls, to show that they shouldn’t be shamed for their sexual history. This whole revelation sort of works for me, because I think that Laine, in a sense, becomes a kind of sacrifice that will work to better the country in the long run (pushing for more female equality); but at the same time, I have a really hard time believing that A) anyone would be that selfless unless they are incredibly Christ-like, and B) that the American public would be that forward thinking. I really liked what the themes were trying to say, I just don’t know if I could fully believe it; the rest of the movie is flipping fantastic.
Verdict:
This is one of the better (and more relevant) political thrillers I’ve seen in recent memory. I absolutely recommend it.
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