Nothing against Jimmy Carter – the 96-year-old former U.S. President is a powerful force for humanitarianism in the world and, by all accounts, a decent human being. But this rather slight documentary from director Mary Wharton tells us little beyond those facts.
Its one addendum to the historical record, and it’s hardly a stop-the-presses revelation, is that Carter had a lot of friends in the music world. You may be used to performers protesting politicians or suing them for using their music in campaign ads, but the 39th president counts Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Garth Brooks among his close friends.
How close? Nelson wrote in his autobiography that he once smoked pot in the White House during a visit, claiming to have obtained it from one of the servants. Carter, still lively in interviews from 2018, corrects the record and notes that it was actually one of his sons who obtained the weed.
Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President looks at Carter’s four years as governor of Georgia, during which one of his first acts was to hang a portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. in the Capitol building, as a way of signaling a change from his predecessor, the segregationist Lester Maddox.
When he decided to run for the Democratic nomination the 1976 election he found himself up against future California governor Jerry Brown, and a battle of the bands ensued. Brown had Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles in his corner. Carter seems to have had everyone else. Jimmy Buffett once opened for him, just to draw a bigger crowd. Someone remarks that if Carter had let his hair grow a little he’d have looked right at home in the Allman Brothers Band.
The rest of the doc features a whirlwind of musical visitors to the White House – everyone from John Lennon to Dizzy Gillespie, Dolly Parton to Pavarotti. None was able to help Carter secure a personal encore of a second term, however. And none of this is really surprising. Great soundtrack, though, and a lovely reminder of a gentler time in politics.
Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President opens Oct. 23 in virtual cinemas through https://watch.eventive.org/filmswelike , and some physical cinemas in Victoria, Vancouver and Charlottetown.
2.5 stars out of 5
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