Jimmy Carter Man from Plains (2007)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Jonathan Demme

Writer (WGA):

Jonathan Demme (written by)

Release Date:

15 August 2008 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Plot:

A chronicle of the former president's tour recent for his book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."

Plot Keywords:

Palestine | Travel | President | Tour | Peace

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Menachem Begin	...	Himself (archive footage)
Wolf Blitzer	...	Himself
Johnny Carson	...	Himself (archive footage)
Amy Carter	...	Herself (archive footage)
Jimmy Carter	...	Himself
Lillian Carter	...	Herself (archive footage)
Rosalynn Carter	...	Herself
Alan M. Dershowitz	...	Himself
Terry Gross	...	Herself
Elizabeth Hayes	...	Herself
Larry King	...	Himself
Jay Leno	...	Himself
Edward Norton	...	Himself
Diane Rehm	...	Herself
Charlie Rose	...	Himself
Anwar Sadat	...	Himself (archive footage)
Tavis Smiley	...	Himself

Also Known As:

Man from Plains (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some thematic elements and brief disturbing images.

Runtime:

USA:125 min | Canada:120 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | SDDS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG

Company:

Clinica Estetico

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2007-11-03)" (2007)

Amazing

I've long felt that Mr Carter is most likely the greatest man to ever occupy the White House. This film reinforced that. I've long been a staunch advocate of Israel and the right of Israel to protect itself. This movie (and the book around which it revolves) did nothing to change that. What did change, what I found really embarrassing was the behavior of the advocates of Israel shown in this film. I say this as someone who lost a close friendship with an Arab over an on-going argument regarding Israel when I quoted Golda Meir: There will only be peace when they love their children more than they hate us. But it goes both ways.

President Carter reminds us that, in order to seek peace, we must take risks and have open minds, open arms and open hearts. The "pro-Israeli" protesters and interviewees in this film seem to care nothing about ending the nonsense that has touched every single Israeli and Palestinian Arab family over these past 60 years. If seeing and listening to President Carter hadn't been such a thrill, I might have left this film with great disdain for these opponents of peace. Instead, I feel as though I was allowed a two hour glimpse at the greatness of a man who will never be appreciated appropriately in history books. He's an incredible man. What prevents me from giving this a ten is that the editing and direction of this film were far from incredible.