Nixon / McGovern is the first presidential race that I can remember. I was in the third grade, so of course I did not understand the issues. All I knew was that my parents supported Nixon and my college aged brother supported McGovern.
History classes in elementary and high school never got past WWII, so this film helped me fill a gap. One of the deleted scenes explains how the U.S. first got involved in Vietnam and perhaps should have been the opening of the film.
It is great that they were able to capture McGovern in his own words while he was still alive. There are wonderful insights by Dick Gregory, Gore Vidal, and Gloria Steinem. Some of the other "talking heads" added very little and should have been excluded or cut way down. Framing them in extreme close ups made for unpleasant viewing.
The rest of the film is both too much and too little. The film opens with footage of Bush II, Clinton, etc. in what may have looked current when the film was made, but now just seems dated. It also hits you over the head with the creator's political agenda. The film returns several times to political events of the 80's, 90's, etc that have nothing to do with McGovern. It's a pointless (and wildly speculative) "look what happened because McGovern wasn't elected" argument.
The narration is over the top severe, but blandly delivered by a woman who sounds like she is reading a script.
We know how brutal Vietnam was. After a while, the repeated footage of body parts and mutilated people seemed gratuitous. We get the point.
Meanwhile, news footage that would have brought the past to life is missing. We hear about a debate in which fellow Democrat Humphrey brutally attacked McGovern. Why not show it?
McGovern's wife is barely mentioned and we learn almost nothing about her. Ditto for his children. If he had any life outside of politics, we weren't shown it. His political career ended in 1972. What did this man do for the next 40 years?
The film assumes too much knowledge of people and events. Muskie, Wallace, Humphrey, and other names and faces flash by with little explanation of who they were. As a yearbook for McGovern campaign workers, this may not be needed, but for educational purposes, this should have been included.
This film could have used an independent editor. I recommend this film, but if you weren't following the events when they occurred, you may have to supplement it with outside reading.
