Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains
Release Date:
October 26, 2007
Limited release
Movie of the Day for Monday, October 22, 2007
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He may be 83, but Jimmy Carter can still be the subject of a potential must-see documentary. The 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 is a man who would rather not sit on his laurels like a lot of other former presidents. Instead, Carter has taken the Al Gore route, of sorts, and will broadcast his message through a documentary. It isn’t a message about global warming, however, but something of equal or even greater importance: peace.
In Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains, Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs) follows the path of Carter’s recent controversial book tour for Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Carter’s public and private life are revealed here, as the pair travel across the country to spread his message. A media onslaught ensues, bringing Carter’s credibility and even judgment into question. Even so, Carter’s sense of justice energizes him to pursue his lifelong vision of peace.
Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains serves as a documentary follow up to Demme’s most recent film offering, Neil Young: Heart of Gold. In that 2006 release, Demme documented the premiere of Young’s songs from his 2005 album Prairie Wind at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. It was filmed over two August nights in the summer of 2005.