Much of the film focuses on the interaction between politics and the media and the attempts by the Clinton and Bush campaigns to spin public perception of events and news stories.
Shortly before the 1992 Democratic National Convention, novice producers R.J. Cutler and Wendy Ettinger approached filmmakers D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus about making a documentary about the then-ongoing 1992 U.S. presidential election. Pennebaker and Hegedus expressed interest, provided the producers could get them permission to film what they would need to film, so Cutler and Ettinger contacted the Bush, Perot, and Clinton campaigns. Only the Clinton campaign was open to giving the filmmakers any access, and this was limited primarily to Carville and Stephanopoulos and events that transpired within the so-called "war room" at the campaign's national headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas, so the scope of the film narrowed from encompassing the entire election to mostly centering around one room. Events in the election cycle that occurred before the Democratic National Convention were covered in the completed documentary through montages of newspaper headlines, the use of clips from TV news programs, and, according to Hegedus, unused footage from Kevin Rafferty's Feed, a documentary about the 1992 New Hampshire primary.[4]
Over a span of four months spent filming, Pennebaker and Hegedus shot about 35 hours of film.[5]
2008 Democratic primary controversy
In late April 2008, a clip from the film was posted on YouTube that purported to show former Clinton administration official (and supporter of then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton) Mickey Kantor saying to Carville and Stephanopoulos, "Look at Indiana, wait, wait – look at Indiana. 42-40. It doesn’t matter if we win. Those people are shit. Excuse me." Another erroneous interpretation of the clip alleged that Kantor said, "How would you like to be a worthless white nigger?".
On May 2, 2008, Kantor claimed that the footage had been doctored,[6] and shortly thereafter D.A. Pennebaker claimed that Kantor had actually said "Those people must be shitting in the White House."[7] The doctored footage and false allegations against Kantor were discussed in the Return of the War Room, a 2008 sequel made by Pennebaker and Hegedus.
As it was only screened at few locations, the film grossed $901,668 at the box office.[2]
Critical reception
The film received near universal acclaim from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 96% "fresh" rating based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 8.11/10. The website's consensus reads, "Eye-opening in its access to an array of colorful campaign operatives, The War Room is a valuable time capsule and a riveting study in the art of politicking."[8]
^The Criterion Collection (2012). "Making The War Room: Hegedus, D. A. Pennebaker, Cutler, and Ettinger" (a special feature produced for a home video release of The War Room). The information used is taken from throughout the piece.