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Election
By: M. Enois Duarte, 2.26.2009
The Movie Itself:
When we think of a backdrop for a political satire, with enough sass and wit to really drive it all home, class elections at a small-town high school would hardly be considered an adequate arena. Yet Alexander Payne did exactly that and with marvelously comedic results that deserves more attention for its efforts than the cult status it's earned over the years. His penchant for featuring grown men on the verge of a childish mental breakdown, such as Nicholson in About Schmidt and Paul Giamatti in Sideways, serves him well in this story about a history and civics teacher and the run for class president set in Omaha, Nebraska. The film is bitingly funny, intelligent, and practically borders on genius, as it perfectly captures suburban high school life and the absurdity which encompasses the campaign elections in general.
Adapted from the novel of the same name by Tom Perrotta, Payne applies shifting-narration to create a more layered appeal to the plot, allowing the three protagonists the opportunity to explain their side of the story. Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick) is a popular and enthusiastically involved high-school teacher, masking other disappointing aspects of his life. Still bitter from the love-affair that ruined his best friend's life, Jim loathes the idea of spending time with the overachieving, presidential-hopeful Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon), who hides a frighteningly vindictive side to her personality. In an effort to teach her a lesson, Jim convinces the always kind and humble Paul Metzler (Chris Klein) to run against her, who's interest is on finding more meaning to his life outside of sports and high school popularity. What results is an uncommonly sharp and fiercely funny political satire involving teens.
Early events in the film set in motion a series of mishaps that appear random and incidental, but help to create this strange aura of predestination, which is a great credit to Payne's direction. By having McAllister and Tracy shrug off certain deep-rooted emotional problems from the offset, they are in actuality admitting to the subconscious forces which drive them to a critical point, one in which ideals are confronted and questioned. While Tracy reveals the malicious side of an ambition that borders on the manic, McAllister is consumed by a contempt which does away with his principles of conduct. You have to love a film which consistently asks for the difference between ethics and morals, yet refuses to answer the same question. The only person who survives unscathed is the generous and modest Paul, who's on his own personal journey much like the The Celestine Prophecy novel he reads and circumvents the influence of others. His eventual defeat is a true cosmic prank of where good people are never allowed leadership.
Election is unique in its portrayal of the "subversive elements" of suburbia and never caters to the lowest common denominator (and there were plenty of opportunities to do so). By targeting an adult audience that will recognize its ironic allegory, it's an equally poignant film that funnily depicts the juvenile side of political campaigning. Much like Heathers, Alexander Payne's dark comedy is one of the most memorable high school films, with its portrait of the student council elections and the educators who have live with it.
Rating: 9/10
 The Presentation:
Previously released on DVD, the picture quality of Election was nothing spectacular but clean and passable. Here, Paramount freshens up the source and presents us with a very pleasant AVC-encoded transfer that trumps its DVD counterpart. But again, nothing spectacular. The 2.35:1 video displays clean, resolute lines in the background and the foreground, giving it a nice depth of field. Textural details are clearly visible and revealing much in the facial features, with flesh tones appearing natural. Primaries are more lively, rich, and rendered accurately, receiving the biggest upgrade of all. While stable blacks hold up well and leave enough room for details to show in the dark shadows, contrast and whites are bright and comfortable. A very light veneer of film grain is present for the most part, but can interfere in a couple of scenes where it distracts. A few scenes can also suffer from dirt and speckles, but as a clear improvement over the DVD, the image retains a satisfying film-like appearance.
The audio quality, on the other hand, is an interesting one to judge. Paramount stamps the disc with a lossless track minus a dedicated LFE-channel. But in a film where dialogue is priority, this Dolby TrueHD 5.0 soundtrack is suitable for a comedy. The sound design was never equipped with surround activity, leaving the rear speakers mostly in silence. But as it stands, the mix offers well-resolved, crisp vocals and a warm musical score that expands lightly within the front soundstage. Not a showstopper and hardly engaging, but adequate and welcoming for the subject matter.
Rating: 7/10
The Extras:
Porting over the same bonus material found on the DVD release, this Blu-ray edition of Election comes with only one supplement. The Audio Commentary offered by Alexander Payne is nothing exciting, but he discusses different elements of the film's production, from casting, working from a novel, and directorial choices.
Rating: 2/10
Overall:
Election is a dark comedy with sharp, witty dialogue that perfectly captures suburban high school life, while satirizing the childish mudslinging associated with political campaigns. This Blu-ray release comes with pleasant filmic presentation that is sure to please fans and worth buying for those just discovering this cult gem.
Rating: 6/10
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