Although Bill Clinton became president of the United States, it was James Carville and George Stephanopolous won the elections in 1992. That seems to be what Hegedus and Pennebaker are telling us in their documentary The War Room, and for what it looks like, it must have been true. The democrats hadn't won an election in a long time. They, as people in charge of the Bill Vlinton electoral campaign changed the way campaigns would be run and seen. Or did they? History tells us that presidents have aways liked being presidents! They always tried to reach the audiences, always tried to use all the media at their disposals in the best of ways, and there always were people that managed their image and wrote their scripts. The premise seems to be pretentious and wrong. It is true, however, that this is possibly the one and only documentary that gives us such an insight of the organizing committee of a presidential campaign, and it is very interesting to see how things are run, and how people think. They are the underrated heroes. Before Clinton does anything, they think of it. In fact, we hardly ever see Clinton ourselves, which further strengthens the fact that it was them who won the elections, not him.Pennebakes does what he does best: direct cinema. But in comparison to other direct cinema legendary films, this one is hard to get fully into. In fact, the scenes that we are allowed to get into through good editing and cinematography are great, but the rest is just annoying and confusing. Also, it's hard to keep track of all that goes on in the war room, and although that was never going to be easy to do, it should have been done better. Still, a lot of it is very good, and worth a look, because the concept, the most important thing in a direct cinema film, is very interesting, and now that we know how things ended, pleasant to watch (unless you're a republican...) WATCH FOR THE MOMENT - When Carville is asked by the media if Clinton went to Moscow. "Yes" answers Carville. He knows exactly what is doing.

"The War Room" is a fantastic documentary that shows the behind the scenes and takes an inside look at a presidential campaign for president. This film follows then Arkansas governor Bill Clinton's track from the snowy cold first Primary in New Hampshire in January of 1992 to the final victory party on election night in November of 1992. The best scenes are shown in the campaign room when you hear the plans and game plans of the two most important Clinton insiders that being James Carville and George Stephanopoulos. Carville the outspoken and fiery southern who ran the campaign with charm and hard working passion. Really an emotional moment is when James gives his speech at the end by breaking down and crying really a touching moment for the viewer. While Stephanopoulos the brilliant and young bright mind who was an ex Rhodes Scholar does a fine job as the communications director helping Bill dodge and maneuver around such scandals as Gennifer Flowers and the draft dodge. The film also has plenty of highlights from the debates, speeches, campaign tours, and highlights of final election results too. Really a fine documentary of how a political campaign should be done, which most will find both educational and informative.

This is a well-made, but not exceptionally crafted documentary. However, the topic is so inherently fascinating, the editing so effective, and the subjects (James Carville, Clinton himself) are so funny, that I gave the movie a 9. I would definitely recommend buying it off Amazon.com for $8.99, as I did.

As a student of Political Sciences, I believe this to be one of the most fascinating and introspective documentaries regarding the subject of campaigning. The first modern campaign, the 92 Clinton war is an amazing melodrama of quick rises to power, downfalls, villains, heroes, and the precursor to one of the most vicious political battles of our nation's history. In the film, if you look hard enough, you see the seeds of weakness being sown which would lead to an awesome political showdown which is more grand, more high-stakes, and more dark than the plotline of any film in this database. Note: If you like "The War Room," read Woodward's "The Agenda."