CLIENT 9: THE RISE AND FALL OF ELIOT SPITZER
US, 2010, 117 minutes. Colour.
Eliot Spitzer, Michael Schwendeman, Wrenn Schmidt, Hulbert Waldroup.
Directed by Alex Gibney.
Elliot Spitzer may not be a name on most people’s lips. But, there was a time, for a decade, 1999-2009, when it was on the lips of many Americans and, probably, most New Yorkers. He was the crusading Attorney General who took on Wall Street (the ‘sheriff of Wall Street’, the ‘Crusader of Main Street’), the financial companies like Merril Lynch and some high profile financial fraud managers. And, this was before the global financial meltdown.
Director, Alex GIbney, has a solid list of documentaries, including Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room and the Oscar-winning Taxi to the Darkside, on US torture in Afghanistan and Iraq.
For audiences wanting to go back to the first decade of the 21st century and explore what happened in banking and finance and why the collapse would find this film and the 2010 Oscar-winning documentary, Charles Ferguson’s Inside Job , absorbing companion pieces.
The crusading was the rise of Spitzer which culminated in his being elected governor of the state of New York with a huge majority. But, the glory did not last long. On the private level, this married man with children, began to meet with prostitutes, part of a large up-market and expensive ring of escorts and was exposed. He resigned, much to the glee of many of his targets.
The narrative traces the events chronologically, but the film has a continuous interview with Spitzer himself who can be disarmingly candid at times, who explains his legal campaigns against the fraudsters and the manipulators, who admits his private failures.
Other interviewees are financial commentators of the time as well as financiers themselves. Three of the main interviewees are two of his targets, Hank Greenberg and Kenneth Langone,whom Spitzer pursued relentlessly – and who appear on screen at the end, delighted at Spitzer’s fall from grace (and power), and Republican State Senator, Joseph Bruno, who clashed with him when Spitzer was governor.
Two of the escorts ‘appear’ in the film. One, Ashley Dupre (‘Kristin’) became a media celebrity for a while. The other, ‘Angelina’, is not seen but her words are spoken by an actress.
Audiences who despise hypocritical behaviour in public figures will still despise Spitzer. Those who think that transgressing sexual morality does not deserve such a resignation (thinking Bill Clinton) and that the exploitation of government and financial management is more morally reprehensible will be confirmed in their crusading against such exploitation.
1. Alex Gibney, as a director, the range of his documentaries, acclaim and awards, a successful career? His interest in controversial American themes? His insight?
2. His method, the portrait of New York, Spitzer as attorney-general, his work, his targets, his enemies, his campaign for governor, the breaking of the scandal, the history of the scandal, the secrecy, expose and his resignation? The potential for a comeback trail?
3. The focus of the film and the interviews with Spitzer himself, weaving them throughout the film? His passionate dispassionate look at his own self and career? The range of interviewees? Those in favour? His enemies? Financial issues? The interviews with Morris Greenberg, with Kenneth Langone? The interchanges with Senator Buono? The cumulative effect of the interviews, pro and con Spitzer? His charisma? Thick-skinned? Ambitions? The credibility of the portrait?
4. Eliot as a person, character, Jewish background, the Jewish support, the hope for the first Jewish president? His wife, the background to their marriage, career? His family? The glimpses of his speeches, his stances, targets, audiences agreeing with him? The tantrums? His persistence? Achievement, the cases? Newspaper reports?
5. His enemies, the explanation of the frauds, the images and naming of the people exposed?
6. His principal enemies, Greenberg, Langone, the interviews, the final comments after his downfall, vindictive?
7. The campaign for governorship? The election, the huge percentage, meeting people, his tough stances, his role in the Senate, the financial discussions, the need to compromise?
8. The issue of vice, prostitutes, vice rings in New York City? Spitzer’s stances?
9. The focus on the escorts, the explanations? The artist and his story, pimping? The girls? The managers of the escort agencies, the husband and wife, the interviews and their explanations? Ashley Dupre, her career, photos, model, singer? The contrast with Angelina, having an actress portray her? How this affected audience response to the truth of the film? The lawyers, the exploitation, the ingenuousness and the lies? Spitzer and his being caught up in this world?
10. The reality of Spitzer’s behaviour, the visits, the girls and their critique about performance, the secrecy?
11. The files, exposure? His resignation, his wife standing beside him? His enemies and their obvious gloating?
12. Spitzer as a crusader, his flaws, the consequences? In the history of American politics – and the predecessors in this kind of complexity of moral and immoral behaviour, the precedent of Bill Clinton? Clinton’s continued success?
13. Did the film provide sufficient information about Spitzer, his character, behaviour, his career? A fair assessment of Spitzer?
