“We didn’t go there determined to bury Sarah Palin,” says Broomfield about his 10-week jaunt to Wasilla, Alaska for his latest project “Sarah Palin You Betcha,” a documentary about the former Vice-Presidential candidate (which premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday).
“That was why we went,” explains the filmmaker: “To get an insider’s portrait; we think we approached it with an open mind.”
“I think you get a fairly complicated portrait of her,” continues Broomfield, “as someone who is very charming and engaging, and who has an incredible ability to make people feel that they’re very special.”
On the other hand, continues Broomfield, “Time and time again, she seems to turn against the very people who have done the most to promote her career. I was surprised at the level that people spoke of her need for an enemy. That was the most consistent thing: her feud-like vindictiveness against those who worked with her.”
While Broomfield describes Wasilla as an evangelical community “with strong loyalties and a lot of fear” he says the documentary crew was gradually able to gain access to people, spending a lot of time with Palin’s parents, friends, Republican colleagues and former co-workers.
Those who appear in the film include John Bitney, Palin’s legislative director when she was governor, Colleen Cottle, a former Wasilla councilwoman, GOP Senator Lyda Green, and Laura Chase, Palin’s campaign manager during her first run as Mayor.
“I think there was a real sense at the time we were there, in October to December last year — that was she going to run for President and she had a good chance of getting in, and that prompted a number of people to speak out who had previously been quiet, because they felt that she was sufficiently dangerous,” says Broomfield.
Broomfield’s efforts to capture Palin on camera were rebuffed, however. “I asked her on film if she’d give me an interview, and she said you betcha I will,” which is where the title comes from,” he says, “but it never materialized.”
After spending several months following Palin around the country and interviewing those who knew Palin, even journeying all the way to Egypt, where one of Palin’s former high school classmates now lives — Broomfield says he’s given up trying to figure out whether Palin will actually run for president.
“I think she’s frightened of being accountable; I think she’s frightened of the kind of scrutiny that she will have to face up to, and at the same time, she needs the spotlight and it’s hard to know what she would do if she didn’t run,” he says. “But I kind of think she won’t.”
Well it appears that Nick really DID develop an understanding of Sarah Palin while he was up here. I have to completely agree with his assessment.
What he says in this interview jives EXACTLY with what everybody that I know has run up against while trying to research Sarah Palin. Few people will talk, and those that do live in constant fear of retribution from Palin and her supporters.
Nick did talk to a couple of people that I have never been able to get close to, like Mike Wooten and Laura Chase, so this might have more bombshells in it than Palin was probably expecting.
By the way, that part in the preview where Palin agrees to talk to Nick (which of course she never did.) was at the same Anchorage Costco book signing where only about a half hour later I was given the boot.
I don't know about all of you, but the more I hear about this film, the more I want to see it.
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