Perhaps this should have been entitled 'The President and His Book' because most of the documentary is about the book tour that Jimmy Carter took when he published his controversial book 'Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid'. We follow Jimmy as he crosses the U.S. to promote his book. Nevertheless we get a very candid and close-up view of this ex-President. He comes off very well - an honest, forthright individual who has accomplished much since he left the Presidency in 1980. Compared to the last 8 years (2000-08), here is man who can express his feelings and fears. I couldn't help but feel as I was watching, that if another, less well known individual had written the same book, the media up-roar over it would have been far less pronounced.

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.

Forget the subject matter, this movie is boring as hell. You want to see some good documentary's? Try watching the excellent "The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara" or another great film called "Why We Fight!" I realize he is an ex-president, but if this (the Documentary) was around any other person it would be considered trash and would have never seen the light of day. What's worse is that it is directed by the extremely talented Oscar winning ("Silence of the Lambs") director Johnathan Demme. Anyway don't watch this especially if you really don't like ho-hum documentaries. It almost seems like everything he says just doesn't matter. It's like people put up with him because he is an ex-president and he at least deserves the respect from the office he once held. However it's like people are saying oh "let him talk, he won't be around much longer." It reminds me of how people stare at the homeless man on the corner then forget about it as soon as you go by. I don't know anything about what he did or didn't do as president, but from a plain (no pun intended) movie/documentary standpoint this was one of the worst I've seen. Don't bother watching this unless you are a die hard Jimmy Carter fan or like to watch every single documentary ever made. Skip this and watch the other two I recommended.

Set primarily along the signing tour of his latest controversial book, Jimmy Carter Man from Plains takes us inside the private life of the much maligned 39th President of the United States.Politics aside, it is a well made and enjoyable two hours. Most enjoyable were the few occasions that showed the ex-Prez at home in Plains or interacting with makeup artists, town people at a BBQ, or on set prior to being on the air.The documentary primarily deals with talking about his choice to use the word "Apartheid" in the title and charges of anti-Semite stances in the book, of which Carter fervently disagrees.The documentary is not by any stretch a thorough commentary on Carter's presidency or political takes, it is more a one month "slice of life" of a very active, 83 year old ex-President that still is trying to remain relevant some 27 years out of office.I highly recommend it even if you are not a big Carter supporter. It is not often that we get the chance to ride along with a President, or ex- President, and it was an enjoyable and informative ride!