I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Regardless of your political views, this documentary is awesome. Being a moderate in today's politics seems eerie. It seems as if you have to be part of the "fringe" or you don't "fit in". Anyway, The film takes you on a roller coaster ride of ups and downs of the campaign (mostly up).I wasn't a particular fan of the President but still voted for him because he seemed to convey the hope that we can come together after the previous disastrous administration. Very little of this mans charisma comes through in the film though,which was a disappointment.Overall the film is entertaining for anyone interested in politics or the President himself. He could be one of our greatest if given the chance and the hard right will work with him.I would have rated this film higher,albeit not enough about the Presidents essence and demeanor.

By the People: the Election of Barack Obama, released in 2009 shortly before the presidential election, falls somewhere in between political propaganda and an amateur film diary. Directed by Amy Rice and Alicia Sams, produced by actor Edward Norton, this HBO documentary presents a one-dimensional view of the 2008 presidential election between Barack Obama and John McCain.Given that 98% of Hollywood is liberal, it was inevitable that a movie about Barack Obama would be made…but couldn't By the People at least be entertaining or enlightening? Apparently, Rice, Sams, and Norton, et al, didn't think so. With unlimited funds and talent at their disposal, People boils down to a tunnel view of the campaign, and its supporting cast of star-struck campaign workers, mainstream media, and huge crowds of enthusiasts.At the forefront is Obama, who appears to play to the camera like a star-struck kid, enjoying every moment of the branding that is Mr. O. The "behind-the-scenes" glimpses are just as carefully staged as Candidate Obama's many appearances, staff conferences, and his off-hand comments such as, "I love elections, they're so much fun!". No – really! The film lacks any narrative style – and any narration, for that matter - and the audience is left to plow through almost two hours of wall-to-wall film footage of this sticky-sweet homage to the perfect Liberal candidate. Without showing the reality that goes into every political campaign or exploring Obama's crafted image, By the People comes off as a back-handed tribute to Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will's cinematic design.A year later and OHLand can't help but wonder if Rice, Sams, and Norton, now well-tempered by time and stark reality, would package their product a bit differently.Ah, being liberals, probably not.

Like most HBO documentaries it is well structured, paced perfectly and visually appealing. I like documentaries anyway and I realize they all have a bias or an agenda and this is no different. Clearly the film puts Obama's amazing campaign in the best possible light. Good news is shown in real time with reactions from the candidate himself while bad news (Ayers, Wright, previous races and experience, etc) is shown in retrospect or downplayed. What makes the film good is also its Achilles Heel. Following the candidate from just before he decides to run, we see the people around Obama more than the candidate himself and get a glimpse of the times in which his campaign and subsequent election take place. Both effectively place the campaign in context. People were showing up in record numbers and hadn't been this excited about a candidate probably since JFK. The film effectively captures the magic (and hysteria) that infected Democrats and influenced enough independents.I am no fan of the man as president, so I also have a post-disposition (as opposed to a predisposition), so it was hard to warm up to the man to begin with. But the doc doesn't reveal much more about him than we already know. He's calm, cool, collected, has a nice and attractive family, and speaks well...exactly how he's described today. By concentrating on his advisors and fans we get insight into the effect his election had on people but not no particular insight on how he deals with his staff, what he really cares about, or, with little exception, how he acts under adversity. One point that stands out is his surprising defeat in NH which he maintains (how long afterward we don't know)was a good thing. Ever the spin master, we see him only as the consummate politician without much of a hint of how much the setback bothered him as a person.Perhaps, after his administration is walking out the door of its last term, the makers will give us more of a taste of who the "real" Barack Obama is with the extra footage in a second installment. For now we will settle for a little of "behind the scenes" of the most electric campaign of the last 30 years.

I saw a limited preview screening of this in New York City at the Landmark Sunshine Theater on August 8, 2009. This doc will air on HBO in November.And it was absolutely killer. HBO Documentaries does it again. They're a brand I can shop by: Taxi to the Dark Side, The Agronomist, Born Into Brothels, etc. All great documentaries."By the People" is no exception. It's an intimate look into Barack Obama's brain trust and his key organizing generals on the ground. It captures intense, emotional, historical moments with strange moods outside fluorescent-lit hallways inside rooms you'd give your left arm to be a fly on the wall in. Then, of course, the camera goes into those rooms. But it only gives you a taste.In that sense, it leaves you wanting more. One can only imagine the amount of great footage they had leave on the cutting room floor. Hopefully, after this doc airs and the DVD is released, we'll get to see some of those deleted scenes.In the movie, here are some things you get to see you never would otherwise: Robert Gibbs' adorable little son, David Alexrod yo-yo'ing from an Obama-like calm to very Jew-neurotic about exit polls and Obama shedding a tear or two during a speech the day his grandmother dies and one day before his eventual election. Very touching. You also get to hear his grandmother (audio only) talk about Obama as a boy (a first ever, or at least for me) over shots of some rarely-before-seen family pictures.You get a wonderful, natural insight into how Obama's wife and kids act together as a family. How well-spoken and adult-sounding Malia, about 9 or 10 at the time, is. The distant look in her eyes when she says she wishes she could see her dad more during the campaign. You get to see how truly fierce in will and personality Michelle is. How much charismatic, black Chicago machismo swagger Obama gains when he's off-stage.If this all seems a little too intimate and personal, you may be right. But so instrumental to Obama's likability and popularity as a candidate at the time was his narrative and his character. A campaign as modern and media-savvy as this one doesn't just let this one slip by them, uncomfortably. They wanted this. Or at very least they allowed it.It will inevitably be compared to "The War Room," an ultimately surface-skimming and unsatisfying exposee into how Bill Clinton won the 1992 election, directed by D.A. Pennebaker, a documentarian of legend. But where "The War Room" was sensationalist, "By the People" is tense and emotional. And also matter of fact. It creates a mostly chronological and fairly complete time line of Obama's experience from the 2006 take back of the House by the Democrats to election night, about two years altogether.The instances of the familiarity this bred between the filmmakers and the campaign staff is best demonstrated when, near the end of the campaign, Obama smiles broadly and waves to the camera like he's actually glad to see them. Like he's relieved, almost.In one telling moment, he seems mildly surprised the documentary's camera crew made it to the New Hampshire primary after his victorious Iowa caucus, since the media blitz around his campaign grew exponentially.Obama says something like "You guys stuck around," smiling a politician's smile. And his communications director Robert Gibbs says, "That's because their movie's about to get better." He had no idea.