Description: Karl Rove is President George W. Bush's closest advisor. He is a man who has almost single-handedly shaped the policies of our nation. Feared and admired by Republicans and Democrats allike, Rove has raised a new and disturbing question for Americans: who really runs the country? This DVD explores Rove's remarkable political journey and the extraordinary role he has played in Bush's rise to the top. DVD features include chapter selection, theatrical trailer, bonus interviews, and previously unseen documentary footage.
Amazon.com: A late bloomer among the rich harvest of political documentaries released in 2004, Bush's Brain is potently revealing yet maddeningly pedestrian in its attack on Karl Rove, the powerful presidential advisor nicknamed "Bush's Brain" for serving in effect as co-president in the George W. Bush administration. Slapped together for the sake of an expedient pre-election release, the film makes a convincing case (while offering no tangible proof) that Rove conducts ruthlessly effective Republican campaigns on the belief that "the ends justify the means." Based on the book by James C. Moore and James Slater (both featured prominently in abundant talking-head interviews), the film lacks the coherent structure that would've made it truly effective, assumes considerable foreknowledge on the part of the viewer, and regrettably includes a tear-jerking, non sequitur digression about the grieving family of a beloved Marine who was killed in Iraq. But the film's shattering allegations and heartbreaking testimonies suggest, in no uncertain terms, that Rove is pulling the Presidential strings, remaining virtually untouchable while winning elections by any means necessary. As a fascinating study of alleged corruption and unchecked ambition, Bush's Brain is anything but balanced, but it's an important film that invites viewers to draw their own conclusions. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Carl Rove is Such an Evil Person, This Film Comes Off as Unfair or Biased, When Its Not
Carl Rove is sarcastically referred to as "Bush's Brain", implying that Bush - by himself - is unintelligent and incapable of having his own thoughts and positions on public issues. Such a conclusion seems to be more or less supported by the facts, but this is a contentious area. The problem with this film is the fact that Carl Rove is such a vindictive, win at all costs, kick 'em while they're down, who cares who it hurts kind of guy, that this film comes off as being biased or nasty when its really not, its just factual.
This said - in my opinion, - this film tries to cover way ... Read More
Rating: - Fails to deliver
With the exception of a segment focusing on Fredrick Pokorney (a young Nevadan who died early in the Iraq War), Bush's Brain is relatively passionless. This is the epitome of a "talking head" documentary. A majority consists of interviews with men in chairs. Everyone is calm, collected and tending toward the monotone. For variety, some are interviewed standing up and/or in locations other than an office, and there are occasional clips of politics in action. But the raw material, plus the lifeless narration, plus a lack of pizzazz in the editing room equals a passionless film.
Rating: - Rove as "Genius" and Language Distortion
In these days of spin control language distortions are such a popular pastime that it is becoming increasingly impossible to separate distortion from reality, which is what the spinmeisters of propaganda and discontent are seeking to achieve.
The interesting documentary film "Bush's Brain" adapted from the book of the same name by veteran Texas political journalists James C. Moore and Wayne Slater is interestingly divided up between those who clearly see through Karl Rove, the film's subject, and those who do not wish to do so. Many in the latter category have become Rove enablers and ... Read More
Rating: - Scary!
If you want to rent a true horror movie, watch Bush's Brain, based on the book by two Texan reporters. Their assertion that Karl Rove is running the White House is frightening because apparently he's a brilliant but ruthless man that no one elected.
This DVD was released in 2004. Much of the information is outdated. Only brief allusions were made to the fact that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq whereas much attention was paid to the background of Karl Rove -- if even 1/10 of that is true, he is a man without a soul or a conscience and he's directing our domestic and ... Read More
Rating: - Straighten out these comments please
Giving this film a neutral star rating so its rating isn't unduly altered. I've seen this film; like any political documentary, there's a degree of Kool-Aide drinking that has to occur before everything goes down unopposed. I personally enjoyed it very much, but you have to maintain a healthy bit of suspicion when you view something as politically charged as "Bush's Brain".
Which is why reading the reviews here is so distrubing. I should be able to find one- and two-star ratings with enlightened Bush-friendly commentary as to why this film is bogus, right? In the service of keeping an open ... Read More
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