“One Bright Shining Moment” is the kind of movie
title that might bring to mind uplifting Hollywood fare about
victorious underdog sports teams or landmark court cases. However,
the said moment occurs not within victory, but within defeat,
raising the question of whether or not there can be a bright,
shining moment for the loser.
To the supporters of former presidential candidate George
McGovern, the answer is a resounding “yes.” “One
Bright Shining Moment” is in fact a documentary about
McGovern’s political life, which opens Friday at
Laemmle’s Music Hall Theater.
Everyone from Warren Beatty to Gloria Steinem weighs in on the
man and the meaning of his 1972 run for the presidency, in which he
lost the electoral vote to Richard Nixon, 520 to 17 ““ at the
time, the second-largest defeat in U.S. history. Perhaps the
central message of the film, which follows McGovern from his South
Dakota roots to becoming Nixon’s opponent, is that losing
does not necessarily mean being unsuccessful.
“(The film) holds up the possibility that even in losing,
you can contribute something to the country,” McGovern said.
“I really think that campaign forced an end to the war in
Vietnam. Once almost 30 million people said they wanted a flat-out
antiwar candidate for president, (those in power) couldn’t
continue the war. That’s why it wound up so soon after the
presidential election.”
Indeed, as the film shows, McGovern is probably known best as
the politician who came out most forcefully and unequivocally
against the Vietnam War, making its termination the main issue of
his campaign for president. His demands for accountability on the
part of those in power, including fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson,
were not always received warmly. For his dissent, McGovern was
accused by his opponents as being unpatriotic.
“What ticked me off was when my political opponents tried
to make out (that) I was some weak-on-defense, weak-on-patriotism
American,” McGovern said. “I never felt more patriotic
than when I stood up on the floor of the U.S. Senate and challenged
the war in Vietnam. My knees were knocking more when I challenged
U.S. foreign policy than when I flew my first bombing
mission.”
The documentary traces McGovern’s path from decorated
World War II veteran to three-term U.S. senator from South Dakota
to challenger for the highest office in the land. But before seeing
this dramatic career arc, the audience is introduced to one of
McGovern’s original passions: history. Having received his
doctorate in history from Northwestern University, McGovern
considers a look back in time necessary in dealing with problems of
the present.
“History has taught me so much about the background of
problems,” McGovern said. “A more understanding view of
history could have saved this country a lot of grief. If our
country’s leaders had read a history of southeast Asia, we
would have never gone to war. We were going up against the most
fundamental of historical forces of a struggle for independence and
nationalism. We were bucking those historical tides. It almost
ensured our defeat.”
One of McGovern’s hopes for the film is that it will shine
a positive light on the historically undervalued practice of
dissent.
“Ordinarily in history, if you criticize the established
policy, you’re going to pay a price for it,” McGovern
said. “It may be losing an election, getting fired, losing
friends, getting beat up ““ all kinds of things can happen to
people who criticize official policy. I wish I could say in
democracies we always respect the rights of critics, but we
don’t.”
Although it focuses on these events of McGovern’s
political career, “One Bright Shining Moment” does not
entirely concern the past; rather, it holds a message of hope for
what lies ahead. Instead of dwelling on the political loss for
which McGovern may be best known, the documentary highlights the
need for idealism in the future political culture of the United
States.
“I’d like to see this film stimulate more interest
in our political process and what involvement in the process can
accomplish,” McGovern said. “There’s no doubt in
my mind that young people helped force an end to the Vietnam war.
Young people were often in the forefront of the protests against
the war, and I hope this film may make people a little more hungry
for that kind of activity, and bring about constructive
change.”
By portraying McGovern’s willingness to uphold an
unpopular viewpoint for the sake of telling the truth, “One
Bright Shining Moment” centers on the onetime
candidate’s balance of ideal politician with moral leader.
McGovern sees the release of the film as a chance to show that
victory is not always measured in electoral votes.
“In the 33 years since (the election), I’ve never
had one single human being say they were sorry they supported my
campaign,” he said. “They wish they could have done
more. What (the experience) taught all of us was that there are
some things that are more important than winning an election. On
election night, it’s hard to think like that, but with the
passage of time, my supporters and I have come to be proud of the
effort.
“I always told the truth, and that’s very
important.”