‘The Way I See It’ Review: Pete Souza Documentary Throws Major Shade at Donald Trump
TIFF 2020: The film by Dawn Porter showcases photographer Souza’s work in the Obama and Reagan administrations, but it’s also a pointed rebuke to the current president
The first Instagram post from former White House photographer Pete Souza came early in the Donald Trump administration when he posted a photo of the Oval Office with the red drapes that had been there while Barack Obama was president. “I like the old drapes better,” Souza wrote in the caption, in an obvious reference to the shinier gold curtains that had been installed when Trump took office. When a social media user applauded him for dropping shade with that photo and that comment, Souza said, “I had no idea what dropping shade means.”
He has since learned exactly what dropping shade means, and he has continued to do it. In fact, “The Way I See It,” a documentary that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and will be released by Focus Features on Sept. 18, is in many ways 102 minutes of Pete Souza dropping shade, eagerly aided and abetted by director Dawn Porter (“John Lewis: Good Trouble”).
The film is a chronicle of Souza’s time photographing the Obama and Ronald Reagan administrations, and it barely mentions Trump by name during its first hour — but when photo after photo of Obama spotlights his empathy and compassion, and when Souza comments, “To me, that shows how the job of the president should be done,” the contrast with the current occupant is pointed and unmistakable.
And when historian and author Doris Kearns Goodwin lists the qualities of a good president as including humility, communication, the ability to remain cool and the self-confidence to surround yourself with people who will argue with you, she doesn’t need to mention the current occupant of the job for you to get the point the film is trying to make.
Made on a quick schedule so that it could be released before the election, “The Way I See It” is a marvelous portrait of Souza and of two administrations that not coincidentally also works as a scathing rebuke of Donald Trump. It is decidedly not a film for Trump fans, but others may well find themselves moved and saddened by the contrasts between then and now.
The film is based around two books by Souza, 2017’s “Obama: An Intimate Portrait” and 2018’s “Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents,” and portions of it were shot on a book and lecture tour to support the latter book. That work, which juxtaposed Souza photos taken during the Obama administration with tweets from Trump, was a decided change for the longtime photojournalist who originally turned down the job as White House photographer during the Ronald Reagan administration because, he said, “I was not really into politics.”
But Reagan pulled him in and impressed Souza — who was not a fan of the president’s policies — by being “exactly the same behind the scenes as in front of the camera.” The movie gets through Souza’s Reagan years quickly, partly because he had more access and produced more dramatic shots when he was hired to shoot Obama, who he’d first covered as a congressional candidate and who said to him when he took the White House job, “We’re gonna have some fun.”
When asked what he initially thought of Obama in one of his on-camera interviews for this film, Souza shrugs and says, “I found a good subject.” He did, and he was allowed extensive access to document history as it was happening.
The film hits a turning point of sorts when it contrasts Souza’s photo of Obama and his aides during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden with the official White House shot of Trump and his generals during the 2020 killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The first is a tense and unposed shot in which the men and women in the room have their eyes trained anxiously on a monitor to follow the action, while the latter is a still, formal portrait in which Trump and a panel of fully uniformed officers sit ramrod-straight, clearly posing for the camera.
After that, the film and Souza take more opportunities to directly speak about Trump. “I made the conscious decision that I couldn’t not speak out,” Souza says at one point. “I don’t want young people to think that this is the way a president behaves. No, it’s not.”
“The Way I See It” is an entertaining portrait of Souza himself, and also a robust collection of revealing images from the eight years of Obama’s presidency. But at a certain point, it moves beyond being those things and grows more and more explicitly a denunciation of Trump. “This is not a partisan thing to me,” Souza says. “This is somebody that I think is not a good person.”
In its final stretches, the film runs the risk of belaboring the point that it initially made far more subtly — but at the same time, it’s hard not to feel the urgency with which it approaches its task in these perilous times. And the photos, well-chosen and well-presented, do tell the story.
“My America is in these pictures,” Souza says toward the end of “The Way I See It.” And if you’re at all inclined to look back fondly on the Obama presidency, you’ll probably find your America here, too.
10 Buzziest Movies for Sale in Toronto, From Idris Elba's 'Concrete Cowboy' to Mark Wahlberg's 'Good Joe Bell' (Photos)
What the Cannes virtual marketplace proved earlier this year is that even without the in-person meetings, the red carpet galas and all the press hype, there's still room for a lucrative sales market surrounding these virtual events. While that's true of this year's Toronto International Film Festival, the hybrid physical and virtual fest is operating on a slimmed-down lineup of movies. And with Oscar eligibility requirements pushed back to 2021, there isn't the same need for all of these movies to make a splash. That said, we are looking forward to quite a bit at this year's TIFF, and so are buyers.
Halle Berry takes a beating as a washed-up MMA fighter looking to make her redemption fight in "Bruised," which is also Berry's directorial debut. The film is set in New Jersey and explores her fight to get back into shape and win back her child. It also stars Adan Canto and Sheila Atim.
Romulus Entertainment/Thunder Road Pictures
"Concrete Cowboy"
Idris Elba and "Stranger Things'" Caleb McLaughlin play father and son in this family drama from Ricky Staub that draws on the history of Black cowboys in its adaptation of a novel by Greg Neri. McLaughlin is a troubled teen who is sent to live with his quiet, absentee father and is taught to work at his father's stables. Jharrel Jerome, Byron Bowers, Lorraine Toussaint and Clifford "Method Man" Smith also co-star.
Lee Daniels Entertainment/Tucker Tooley Entertainment
"Good Joe Bell"
Mark Wahlberg is getting early hype for his performance based on a true story of a father who takes a cross-country trip to honor his son and educate people about the dangers of bullying. The movie flashes back to show Wahlberg's conflicted and grudging relationship with his son's homosexuality and how he grows, even as it becomes too late. "Monsters and Men" director Reinaldo Marcus Green directs the film from the writers of "Brokeback Mountain."
Endeavor Content
"I Care a Lot"
Rosamund Pike, Eiza González, Dianne West and Peter Dinklage star in this thriller about two women who use loopholes in the legal system to defraud elderly retirees of their family fortunes, only for them to end up angering a crime lord with their latest mark. J Blakeson wrote and directed the film.
Black Bear Pictures
"MLK/FBI"
This documentary from Oscar nominee Sam Pollard is based on recently unclassified FBI documents and examines the surveillance and harassment the FBI used against Martin Luther King Jr. over years, including how J. Edgar Hoover hoped to discredit him and break his spirit. The film includes a discussion of how filmmaking and historians should use official materials from the FBI and other sources and how those sources color history.
Field of Vision
"New Order"
Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco's film first played Venice and is a drama set amid a violent protest in Mexico City. The film draws on sociopolitical themes and the class divide to show how the wealthy unwittingly empower an encroaching military rule in their attempt to keep power.
The Match Factory
"Penguin Bloom"
Naomi Watts is said to give a stellar performance in this true story based on the life of Sam Bloom, a woman who suffered a traumatic accident who finds an inspiring road to recovery after befriending a magpie bird as her companion. Glendyn Ivin directs the film that also stars Andrew Lincoln, Jacki Weaver and Rachel House.
Getty Images
"Pieces of a Woman"
Hungarian filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó directs Shia LaBeouf and Vanessa Kirby in this film inspired by '70s character dramas about a couple expecting a child who winds up grieving over a tragedy in two different ways. Kirby steals the show, but the film also includes a stand-out moment from Ellen Burstyn as Kirby's mother.
BRON Studios
"Shadow in the Cloud"
As part of the Midnight Madness section, Chloe Grace Moretz in "Shadow in the Cloud" is like "Alien" on a WWII bomber. Moretz is a fighter pilot on a mission to carry a piece of classified information and is sequestered from her sexist male counterparts but soon discovers a mysterious presence that threatens the safety of everyone aboard. Roseanne Liang directs the film.
Four Knights Films
"The Water Man"
Another actor making their directorial debut, David Oyelowo's "The Water Man" is a mythical family film with an homage to the family movies of the 1980s. It's the story of a man who looks for a mystical creature with the secret to everlasting life in an effort to rescue his ailing mother. Oprah Winfrey executive produces the film that stars Oyelowo alongside Rosario Dawson, Lonnie Chavis, Amiah Miller, Alfred Molina and Maria Bello.
Photo Credit Karen Ballard
There are still some other movies playing as part of the festival that already have homes, including Chloé Zhao's "Nomadland" at Searchlight, Regina King's "One Night in Miami" at Amazon, the Kate Winslet-Saoirse Ronan drama "Ammonite" (pictured) at Neon, and Dawn Porter's documentary "The Way I See It" at Focus Features. Amazon Studios also recently acquired director Matthew Heineman's "The Boy From Medellín" about musician J Balvin.
Neon
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TIFF 2020: ”Pieces of a Woman,“ ”The Water Man,“ ”I Care A Lot“ and more are getting attention from buyers
What the Cannes virtual marketplace proved earlier this year is that even without the in-person meetings, the red carpet galas and all the press hype, there's still room for a lucrative sales market surrounding these virtual events. While that's true of this year's Toronto International Film Festival, the hybrid physical and virtual fest is operating on a slimmed-down lineup of movies. And with Oscar eligibility requirements pushed back to 2021, there isn't the same need for all of these movies to make a splash. That said, we are looking forward to quite a bit at this year's TIFF, and so are buyers.