Ed. Note: “The Undefeated begins its theatrical run today. You can find theatres and purchase tickets here (I also urge you to bookmark the indispensable site, Conservatives for Palin).  An interview with writer/director Steve Bannon can be heard at the end of this review. — JN

It’s been almost three years since I, along with many others, was introduced to Governor Sarah Palin. In that time we have been saturated with coverage of her and just about everybody on the left and the right, has had the opportunity to get to know who she is and what they think of her.

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At least that’s what I thought.

Admittedly, it took me some time to actually post this review of the recently released film “The Undefeated” about Sarah Palin’s meteoric rise to fame. It took time because, for numerous reasons, Sarah Palin is an emotional topic for a lot of people.

She seems to be one of those national figures that you either love with adoring affection, or hate with an uncontrollable rage. Rarely have I met someone who simply doesn’t have an opinion of her. Many pretend to, but most you can see through. At least I can. I can see through it because my opinion of her was much more specific than I ever liked to admit.

Certainly I believed that the media had been incredibly unkind to her. I believed that her stepping down as Governor was more the loss of an intense battle than simply the “giving up to go get rich” that others had labeled it. But in truth, I didn’t too much care for her, in spite of my public facade of being mostly opinion free.’

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Ed. Note: Please welcome Glen to the Big Hollywood family and encourage him to return — JN

Right Online 2011 in Minneapolis-St. Paul was the site of the first screening of filmmaker Stephen Bannon’s much anticipated new documentary on the life and career of Sarah Palin, The Undefeated. Bannon had warned the assembled attendees that we would be seeing what he styled as “the R-rated cut.” The pre-screening buzz indicated that this phrasing was in reference to the opening montage of the film where, presumably, a bit of rough language was in store. As promised, the initial three-minute sequence lived up to its billing.

It is difficult to dispute the premise that Sarah Palin is quite possibly the most viciously hated female, not only in the conservative movement, but in the United States. An assorted motley string of D-list Hollywood types/media complex sorts, from Rosie O’Donnell to Sharon Osbourne to Bill Maher, are captured on video, subjecting Palin to the most vile epithets imaginable…replete with the crudest of sexual references. We’re introduced to the “Kill Sarah Palin” Facebook group. (It seems to no longer exist. But this is still out there.) A new T-shirt makes its debut, emblazoned with the legend “Sarah Palin is a C@%T.”

On and on the bilious saga roils. One is forced to ponder the demonstrable truth that this represents a mere few moments in an endless sea of wretched acrimony. All directed at one attractive, slender, 5’5” wife and mother of four five…who also happens to be a former Mayor of Wasilla, Governor of Alaska and Vice Presidential candidate.

We observe how Palin’s formative years in a middle-class, values-oriented family in an almost frontier-like Alaska town contributed to the convictions she embraces today. We see the indelible impression the devastation of the Exxon Valdez oil spill imprinted on a young Sarah’s perspective and how the aftermath subconsciously propelled her to public service.

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Sarah Palin IS The Undefeated.

 By the time you finish watching this superbly scripted and produced two-hour documentary about the former Alaskan Governor, if you don’t come to that conclusion, you were either asleep during the film or you still  believe that “Community Organizer” trumps true executive experience and success as qualification to serve as America’s Commander-In-Chief.

Dim the house lights…

It is 2008 and Republican Presidential candidate John McCain introduces Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate to a crowd of thousands of enthusiastic supporters.  The beautiful, poised, confident Governor takes the stage at the Republican National Convention to thunderous applause and delivers an electrifying speech with a level of charisma, wit, and passion not seen since Ronald Reagan, that catapulted this relatively unknown Alaskan Governor onto the National political stage making her almost instantly and simultaneously one of the most revered and one of the most reviled politicians in recent memory.

In stark contrast, the film then cuts over to a dramatic 3-minute montage of pure, unadulterated hatred from the left for this VP candidate which history will record as one of the most vicious campaigns to annihilate a public figure.  It was vulgar.  It was brutal.  It was violent.  It was main stream.  It was textbook Alinsky.  And yet, she is still standing…undefeated.

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What an indictment of the mainstream media that in order to present to the public the missing pieces of a major political figure’s governing record, an independent filmmaker has to drop a cool million of his own dollars.  While our corrupt journalist-class is (at this very moment) out trashing Governor Palin’s children, blaming her for their own acts of public urination and proving they know nothing about Paul Revere (or Google), writer/director Steve Bannon is putting the final touches on “The Undefeated” (this is a review of a rough cut), a feature-length documentary that does the MSM’s job for them — tells the intentionally ignored and buried stories of Sarah Palin’s two decades as an unconventional but very effective public official. Unless you’ve read the Governor’s autobiography “Going Rogue,” anyone with an ounce of intellectual honesty will find it impossible to sit through this film and not ask themselves, “Why haven’t I been told this?” 

Broken into a series of chapters that focus solely on Palin’s political career, the film itself opens with a jarring (in a good way) montage of bitterly hostile celebrities who obviously don’t have enough humanity of their own to see the same in a mother of five. Among others, Bill Maher, Rosie O’Donnell, Matt Damon, Joy Behar, David Letterman, and comedian Louis CK lash out at this woman and her family (including Trig, her Down Syndrome son) in jaw-droppingly cruel and sexual ways that would surely garner an R-rating (there will be an unrated and PG-13 version released). Even though part of my job is to track this celebrity venom and nothing I saw was new, the sheer volume of hate still takes your breath away. Bannon’s answer to this is one of the film’s more effective moments: a credit sequence over home movies where we watch Sarah Palin — someone’s little girl — grow up. Since none of those celebrities were born with a shame-gene, you almost have to feel ashamed for them. 

From here the narrative smartly avoids the personal biographical beats of Palin’s life and jumps directly into her life as a political figure. Bannon secured the audio rights to “Going Rogue” which allows Palin herself to tell much of her own story and right off the bat we’re treated to one of those inconvenient facts the MSM ignores. What inspired this blue collar, hockey mom married to an oil worker to get into politics was the devastating 1989 Exxon Valdez environmental catastrophe. The oil companies clearly held too much power in Alaska and a seed was planted that would eventually grow into the woman currently giving the GOP establishment and corrupt media fits as she tours America in a bus. 

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While we at Big Journalism spend most of our energy correcting bias and falsehoods originating from the left, every now and then we must take a moment to gently correct things that go off track with our friends on the right. This is one such case.

Jim Geraghty started a brouhaha yesterday by criticizing how the makers of “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” received $1.2 million in tax credits by filming in the state — and that Palin signed the 2008 law which made it possible. Because she’s now apparently omnipotent, able to see into the future and plan for it by signing into law a complex program with numerous in-house checks and balances. Geraghty questioned Palin’s conservative credentials.

… but it looks problematic for a crusader for small government to end up collecting a seven-figure paycheck from an endeavor that received a seven-figure subsidy, all set up by a program she signed into law.

What’s problematic is to define the tax credit in this issue as a “subsidy.”

Tax credits are offered as an incentive to do business in a particular area, city, or state as a way to attract business and commerce into said area. These tax credits are usually offered as a percentage of total money spent and the credits can be sold at a discount to businesses looking to alleviate their tax load. The exchange creates a cashflow that helps offset the costs of doing that particular business in that area; in this case filming in Alaska is very expensive. A net gain of dollars flows into those local communities and the credits establish a way for a particular locality to compete with other cities or states for business; over the long term it can they help establish a broader tax base by increasing the number of professionals drawn to the area.

The optimal situation is to have a tax code is low enough where regulations aren’t so restrictive so as to warrant the need for tax credits. That is the real debate. However, it is within every state and city’s right to make themselves more competitive by offering tax incentives to attract business and create a business community. Aren’t we, as conservatives, supporters of the 10th Amendment? You pay for things by increasing your tax base, not by increasing regulations or taxes.

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Stacy Drake at Conservatives for Palin:

Jim Geraghty has penned an article criticizing Governor Palin for a law she signed in 2008 that offers tax breaks to film companies who do business in Alaska. Geraghty states that the production company for “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” took part in the program and that it might be “problematic” for the governor “on the campaign trail.”

He writes:

It isn’t too hard to imagine this becoming problematic for Sarah Palin on the campaign trail, as noted by the Tax Foundation:

In case you missed it, small government crusader and Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin’s TLC reality show “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” received a $1.2 million subsidy from the state of Alaska. The show spent $3.6 million on production in the state, meaning that Alaskan taxpayers covered a third of the cost of the show. The show will apparently not have a second season.

Everything Palin has done has been perfectly legal, but it looks problematic for a crusader for small government to end up collecting a seven-figure paycheck from an endeavor that received a seven-figure subsidy, all set up by a program she signed into law. Of course, Palin set up the subsidy in 2008, and the TLC series wasn’t filmed until the summer of 2010, after Palin resigned as governor.

Which begs the question…. What’s the problem?

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The finale of Sarah Palin’s Alaska aired Sunday night on The Learning Channel.   The series garnered great ratings and stirred up plenty of discussion.  I am willing to bet it surprised a lot of people as well.

When Sarah Palin said she would be doing a reality show, most commenting on it thought it was a horrible idea.  What could she be thinking?  Maybe this meant she didn’t want to run for President, because what could be less presidential than a reality show?  Or maybe it did mean she wanted to run because why else would she want to open her family up to such exposure. 

I won’t speculate too much on the effect of the show on Sarah Palin’s future political pursuits other than to say I think any effect of the show will be positive.  In Sarah Palin’s Alaska, Palin is shown as a tough woman who can hunt for her food, rear five kids, and create new words.  She appears calm, good natured, steady, and solid.  And she shows she has a sense of humor, a great family and an intense love for the beautiful state where she has lived her life.   

Above all, in Sarah Palin’s Alaska we see that Sarah Palin is a real person.  Her kids make fun of her sometimes (“Mom, take your prom hair back home”) and don’t always do exactly as told.  Sarah talks like many of us do saying things like “flippin’” and “freaking out.”  Instead of that decreasing her presidential factor, though, it just makes her more relatable.  We also saw her as a mother, interacting with Trig and her other kids in some incredibly touching scenes.

In addition to seeing what an incredible woman Sarah Palin is, we were introduced to some amazing characters.  Her daughter Piper was a constant companion of Sarah’s in the show.  She is beyond adorable, says all the things a smart-as-a-whip witty little girl would say, and makes lots of funny faces.  We see a lot of her husband Todd who is a hunky, smart companion to Sarah Palin. (more…)

In tonight’s episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska, the family goes whitewater rafting, four-wheeling,  panning for gold, searching for fossils, and dog mushing.  We also see Sarah spending some mom time with Trig and Piper.  And we meet more great Alaskan characters like Mudflap and Bones.  In other words, it’s just another week with the Palins.

In the beginning of the episode the family (sans Todd who stays back to play Mr. Mom to Trig) goes whitewater rafting in a glacial stream with a guide named Mudflap.  We are told this is the largest glacier in the United States that you can drive to.  Sarah’s dad, Chuck Heath (somebody give this man a show please), talks about having lost hunting partners to the cold waters of glacial streams.

Sarah’s mom and dad and brother and sister are along for the trip this week.  Sarah talks about how this reminds her of so many summer adventures they shared as a family. She says they found thrills, adventures and good family time in the wilds of Alaska.

As always, the scenery is breathtaking.  And as in past episodes, we get a deeper look at the Sarah Palin the public knows. Talking about being one of those in the boat responsible for much of the rowing, Sarah says it is more work, but that she doesn’t want an ordinary ride — she wants it to be extraordinary. That could be said about the way she approaches so many other things in her life.

Additional adventures in this episode include four-wheeling to a remote camp to visit their old friend, Bones, a trapper, and panning for gold and searching for fossils.  Sarah’s dad Chuck shares more information about Alaska — she refers to him as the Cliff Clavin of Alaska.  (Seriously, someone needs to give this man his own show.  He is a retired teacher with a passion for Alaskan wildlife and he presents facts in an interesting way.  I’d watch him.) (more…)

When I heard that on this week’s episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska the Palins took Kate Gosselin and her eight kids camping, I’ll admit I groaned.  It was easy to imagine Kate on a camping trip whining and complaining about dirt and bugs and no bathroom.  I am not a huge fan of crossover episodes of series anyway– when a series like CSI (Las Vegas) ends up following a case to CSI: Miami, for example, it often comes off as gimmicky and forced.  If plugging Kate Plus Eight was what this episode was all about, I don’t know if I would have lasted until the end.

Thankfully it wasn’t though.  Sure there are the obligatory comments from Kate about how crazy all this outdoorsy, gun shooting, camping stuff seems to her.  But this episode was really more about how much kids can learn from being exposed to the great outdoors.  And about how experiences like that can bring families closer together.

Sarah’s father, Chuck Heath, is featured again in this episode.  He is a retired science teacher and his house is like a nature museum — full of fun and interesting things for kids to look at and touch like beaver skulls and porcupine quills and stuffed animals (of the taxidermy, not teddy bear, variety).  Kate’s kids appear fascinated by the things he shows and teaches them over the course of their visit.  (Note to Mark Burnett:  Give this man his own show.  I could listen to him talk about wildlife for hours. He is a great teacher and is obviously passionate about the world around him.) (more…)

This week Sarah Palin’s Alaska is all about family and fish.  The Palins visit Todd’s family in Dillingham and at a fish camp in Ekuk.  And they do a lot of fishing.  Sarah and Todd’s son Track is back from Iraq and eager to make money following in his father’s fishing footsteps.  But first he has to prove to his father that he can be the next of the great Palin fishermen.

In addition to watching Track catch fish (or not catch fish), Todd’s Eskimo grandmother, Lena, teaches Willow and the other girls in the family how to process the fish properly.  Willow describes the scene as being covered in blood (and fish guts) and says she doesn’t think any of her friends do this.  She is a good sport though and pretty good at it.

Later at the fish camp in Ekuk, after learning to process salmon for smoking, Piper says “I think I’m the best fish fileter in the whole third grade.”

The episode shows the Palin side of the family (5 generations) and what a big part of their lives fishing is.  Willow celebrates her sweet sixteen birthday with a family party at her great grandmother’s house.  The most powerful moments in the episode though focus on Trig and his teenage cousin Matthew who both have Down syndrome.

Sarah chokes up and tears up (and so did I) when talking about  her visit with Matthew because it gives her a look at Trig in ten years.  She says she hopes that Trig will be embraced by others and treated just like the other kids and talks about how Trig is the heart of her family and how much he teaches them all.  This is an emotional side of Sarah Palin that her fans have not seen — at least not to this extent. (more…)

With the faux controversy (and real television shooting) surrounding Bristol Palin living to dance another day on Dancing With The Stars this week, it is fitting that Bristol the Pistol is featured in this episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska.

The goal in this episode was (ironically) to get Bristol away from all the stress and tabloid controversy she was enduring.  What better way to blow off some steam than to go skeet shooting and do some fish “stunning”?

This week, we see the Palins’ playful, competitive streak.  In one scene, for example, a fun quote comes from Bristol’s skeet shoot when she teases Sarah:  “Mom, take your prom hair back home.”  In another, Sarah and Todd challenge each other to a friendly race.

We also get to see more of the gorgeous Alaskan outdoors when the the Palins go to Homer (Doh!) ” just for the halibut.”  Sarah Palin tells Bristol, “Here’s a lesson for you, there are plenty of fish in the sea.” As Bristol and her mom go on a mother-daughter fishing trip, we also get a glimpse at more of the Alaskan lifestyle and work experience — the commercial fishing business. (more…)

Though my pretty wife would never put up with the long winters and those extended periods where the sun refuses to rise, Alaska has always intrigued me and felt like my kind of place. There’s a sense of self-reliance about the people, a remoteness which is especially appealing to a wannabe hermit like yours truly, and I absolutely love cold weather. As far as those times when the sun won’t rise, I’m firmly on record as being in favor of anything that cuts down the glare on my plasma TV.

Until Governor Palin and family decided to take us on a tour of their beloved home state, the only way I knew of to get a feel for Alaska was through the movies, the medium that taught me most everything (which some would say explains a lot). So if you’re looking for something to tide you over until tomorrow night’s debut of “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” on TLC, here are five pretty memorable films set in the, uh, Upper One. Considering how few films actually take place in Alaska, this is a pretty impressive list.

1. North to Alaska (1960) – One of those raucous John Wayne films that’s far from a classic but impossible not to like. Ernie Kovacs, Stewart Granger, Fabian, and the gorgeous Capucine provide excellent support for the Duke, who’s in fine comedic form in a beautifully photographed widescreen color production that probably got no closer to Alaska than I ever will. And of course there’s also the great Johnny Horton’s unforgettable title song.

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John Mellencamp might be a famous left-winger (and a helluva songwriter), but at least he’s no elitist. After all, there are some on our side who can’t bring themselves to be this gracious when discussing the former Governor of Alaska…

The legendary rocker says that while he doesn’t support [Sarah Palin's] positions, he is impressed by the mark she’s made on she country since the 2008 election.

Mellencamp says people get the wrong idea about her intellect “just because she says things and winks.”

He says she “knows exactly what’s she doing” and “she wouldn’t be where she is today if she didn’t.”

Mellencamp gives Palin credit for handling the rough world of politics. He says “she’s pushing the right buttons” and “you can’t be stupid and do that.”

Dear Celebrity Culture: Vote for whoever you want, advocate for whatever you want, and if you can remain gracious while doing so and not insult who we are and what we believe in, we can still love you. 

And on that conciliatory note,  we leave you with one of the greatest pop songs this side of Francis Albert: (more…)

Critics seem to use every opportunity they can to attack former Governor Sarah Palin and her family. Even though she is no longer in elected office, some seem unable to control their disdain for Ms. Palin, even when their criticisms of her are without credibility and lacking merit. One such example occurred in a recent Washington Post book review about a book that seemingly has very little to do with Ms. Palin.  

 In a Washington Post review of  Debbie Dana Stabenow’s book “A Night Too Dark,” which reportedly focuses on Alaska and revolves around a character named Kate Shugak, WaPo book critic Patrick Anderson took a swipe at former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. In the first paragraph of his “review,” Anderson wrote the following about the book:

If you’ve never visited Alaska, it’s also an intriguing introduction to that big, brawling, rather bewildering state. Once you’ve met the strange characters who inhabit the Shugak novels, Sarah Palin becomes easier to comprehend.

If that’s not enough, Anderson saved his harshest criticism of Palin for later in the piece. At the end of the article, Anderson referenced an interview in which Stabenow is quoted as saying that she met Sarah Palin several times but that Palin never spoke to her about her books.  (more…)

“Have mercy on the souls in purgatory, and especially on those that are most forsaken. Do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure. Call them, and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in paradise.”

Devout Catholics might recognize this as a prayer for those lost souls who, as penance for the sins committed in life, have not yet ascended to heaven. Others might view it as just another silly superstition in desperate need of squashing by the enlightened mythbusters of our time.

As stated earlier, in his teen years Herzog had a deeply affecting flirtation with Catholicism that has echoed down throughout his life. “I have always thought of my films as really being one big work that I have been concentrating on for forty years,” he says. “The characters in this story are all desperate and solitary rebels. . . They know their rebellion is doomed to failure, but they continue without respite, wounded, struggling on their own without assistance.” Herzog maintains, and I agree, that when the history of his career is written Grizzly Man “will be a centerpiece” of his canon. But it was only after many viewings that it occurred to me (a veteran of eight years of Catholic grade school) that one of Grizzly Man’s chief virtues is that it’s a supremely decent film, acting as a kind of extended novena for the lost soul of Timothy Treadwell. (more…)

Timothy Treadwell loved bears. In the name of loving them, with a stalwart sense of the innate sanctity of his mission, he continuously abused them for thirteen years. Time and again from 1989 until 2003 he invaded their territory — startling them, scaring them, angering them. Interrupting their hunting, their mating, their sleep, their play, he would coo sweet nothings at them in a flamboyant, high-pitched whine. He gave the savage beasts silly names like Lulu, Cupcake, Daisy, Ginger, Booble, and Mr. Chocolate, robbing them of their natural dignity. He firmly believed he was their protector, and unleashed torrents of self-righteous hatred upon anyone who dared question his treating of one-thousand-pound predators as if they were cute cuddly teddy bears. Handsome and charismatic, yet narcissistic and naïve, filled with honest caring, yet a smooth liar thoroughly at home in delusion, he became a constant danger both to himself and to everything he loved, ever on the verge of instigating a sudden volcanic eruption of nightmarish unintended consequences.

In short, Timothy Treadwell was a perfect liberal. He loved bears, with all his heart.

And then one ate him.

The story of Treadwell (1957-2003) is told in Grizzly Man (2005), a film destined to be remembered long after the likes of Crash, Brokeback Mountain, Munich, Capote, and the rest of that cinematic annus horribilis are blessedly forgotten. Directed by the fearless and unflinching German filmmaker Werner Herzog, it’s also an intensely conservative film, in its conclusions if not in its subject. (more…)

Our documentary Not Evil Just Wrong is on tour in Alaska. The film asks if Global Warming science is really settled but perhaps more importantly focuses on the damage that proposed “solutions” will have on the poorest people on the planet.

Not Evil Just Wrong examines the true cost of expensive energy for those who already live in poverty or fixed incomes.

One of the highlights of the Alaska tour was a visit to Colony High School in Wasilla where we screened an excerpt of the documentary and took questions from students.

Sarah Palin, Wasilla’s most famous resident, did not attend but a large number of children were there and seemed interested and asked interesting questions.

Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth has been shown many times, in many classes at the school and the students seemed to appreciate an alternative. (more…)

Mark Twain’s famous quote, “Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel,” resonates loudly in my mind as I finish Sarah Palin’s captivating story, Going Rogue.

But Palin ain’t buying it by the barrel, she’s got a whole pipeline of pure grade indigo flowing from the North Slope as she pumps up the volume on her NY Times #1 bestselling memoir.

When I got about halfway through the book I set it down, stepped outside of my Washington, DC townhouse and went for a run around the U.S. Capitol. Listening to the Outlaws, Marshall Tucker Band, and Lil Bow Wow (my daughter slipped that one in there) on my iPod, the recurrent thought in my mind was that this woman is far more qualified to be president of the United States than the current occupant of the White House. (more…)

On August 29th, 2008, I woke up and, like almost every other American, was stunned by the news that Sarah Palin had been chosen as John McCain’s running mate. It was not that I had never heard of her or didn’t want her to be the pick (I had publicly called for her consideration numerous times), but because it was so clearly a very bold and risky maneuver and a true surprise in an era when we seemingly know everything well before it happens.

Moments after I heard the news I did a radio interview and predicted that the news media would destroy her in their transparent quest to pave the way for Barack Obama’s historic election. I had no idea just how right that “blink” calculation would be and I certainly never would have guessed that I would become a small part of that story by dedicating my life and fortune to documenting just how unbelievably bad it would get.

The last twelve months of Sarah Palin’s life truly bring new meaning to the phrase “what a difference a year makes.” I strongly believe that no public figure in modern America has ever endured more stress, pressure and unfair scrutiny in a more dignified fashion than she has over the past year (though what George W. Bush tolerated over the last three years of his presidency probably comes in a close second).

On August 28th of last year Sarah Palin was a largely unknown governor considered to be a rising star largely because of her willingness to take on Republicans in a way that had endeared her to Democrats. Today she is an ex-governor wrongly perceived by most of the country and virtually all of the news media as an erratic, unqualified, lightweight and ultra-partisan Republican who can’t even mange her own family.  (more…)

Not to go an analogy too far, but Sarah Palin seems to be taking a page from the Hollywood playbook of George Lucas.  She has just completed her own introductory trilogy, and it was an astonishing success.  

First, she was a fantastically successful conservative governor lurking beneath the mainstream media’s radar.  Next, she was a vice-presidential candidate who, even though she lost, still did more to electrify the base than the headliner.  Third, she has now drawn the curtain on her post-election career as a sitting governor, a period that saw her deftly turn the tables on mainstream haters like David Letterman.   Like “Star Wars,” she’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but her fans are rabid and chomping at the bit for the next installments.  And as to these future installments, the question is whether the next step is going to be “The Phantom Menace” or something that doesn’t suck. (more…)