PELOSI IN THE HOUSE
US, 2022, 110 minutes, Colour.
Nancy Pelosi.
Directed by Alexandra Pelosi.
An interesting personal and political portrait of longtime Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. It is the work of her documentary filmmaker daughter, Alexandra.
Some commentators have criticised the film as if it intended to be the last word on Nancy Pelosi. It is not. It is an HBO documentary running 110 minutes, assembling footage that Alexandra has taken of her mother over several decades, culminating in an extended coverage of the events of the capital on January 6, 2001.
For those who want some personal glimpses of Nancy Pelosi, this will be a satisfying documentary. For those who want political analysis, it provides some material but is not intended as an analytical film. For those with centre-left sympathies, they will be in support of Nancy Pelosi and her career. For those with the right sympathies, she is already an anathema and this audience will never be converted.
The narrative does provide some background to Nancy Pelosi, born 1940, her father Mayor of Baltimore, member of the House of Representatives, her growing up in an atmosphere of political life. Her husband is Paul Pelosi, seen at home, in the kitchen, at social is (and audiences remembering that at the time of his wife’s resignation as Speaker in 2022, he was the victim of a home invasion and assault). And super loci notes that she grew up in a very Catholic family – and there are Catholic references throughout, an interesting phone call on the morning of January 6, 2021 noting that it was the feast of the epiphany and that the sitting of the House and Senate to ratify Joe Biden selection would have the atmosphere of the epiphany. It certainly did not. And there is footage of her genial meeting with Pope Francis.
Nancy Pelosi’s importance in American politics is her election to the House but, in 2006, her becoming the first female speaker. With a Democrat loss of the house majority in 2010, she lost her role to the Republicans. However, on regaining the house in 2016, she becomes Speaker again.
The political content of the film focuses on her early pledge at the time of the AIDS outbreak, her contribution to the the passing of health legislation, Obama care – and the consequent Republican attempt to overturn it but its being saved by the change of heart of Sen John McCain after his own illness.
She obviously dislikes Donald Trump, scenes of her looks of disapproval, her not offering to shake his hand (he did not offer either), her tearing up his State of the Union speech, stating on January 6 that she would be happy to assault the President and go to jail. The film also covers the discussions and meetings about trumps impeachment, twice.
One of the great values of the film is Alexandra continually following her mother with the camera, her striding on her pantsuits and heals along the corridors of power, communicating with people, almost continuously on her phone, the captions indicating with whom she was speaking. But, there are some sequences, especially with the continued presence of her two grandsons through the film, even a home movie of dancing with them, home sequences in the laundry, in the kitchen, but, especially, sitting with her husband, watching the television and the political coverage and her making comments in the comfort of home.
Nancy Pelosi retired as Speaker at the age of 82. She had a long, active life, a person of convictions, an ability to communicate with people, persuasively, always able to crunch the numbers with her assistance, persevering on principle, and a contribution to political life in the US and the presence of women in that political life.
