Sarah Palin’s Ultimate Vanity Project: Official Documentary

Requested by Team Palin, and primarily financed by Stephen K. Bannon, an ex-Goldman Sachs banker and longtime Hollywood-based conservative filmmaker, "The Undefeated," is a new documentary aiming to re-brand Palin, and perhaps get her ready for a run at the presidency.

Given the less than enthusiastic reception that has thus far greeted the declared, and close to declared, Republican Party presidential candidates, and, given that The Donald is re-feigning an interest in, but is not really serious about, running, and, given that even the hapless Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor whose horrendous 2008 campaign for the presidency died on the vine, is considering throwing his hat into the ring, it may ultimately be left up to the Mama Grizzly herself to come clomping along to the rescue.

While many observers believe that Sarah Palin is too busy cashing in on her 15, 20, 25, 30 minutes of celebrity to launch a run for the presidency, there is some evidence brewing that the mama, turned mayor, turned maverick, turned media star just might give it a go.

The most compelling piece of evidence that a presidential run may be in the offing is the recent completion of Sarah Palin: The Movie, or as it is actually titled, "The Undefeated"; a new documentary film which is set to premiere in June in Iowa.

According to RealClearPolitics , the idea for a documentary about her life and triumphs came to Palin "Shortly after Republicans swept last November to a historic victory in which ... [she] was credited with playing a central role." Evidently, RealClearPolitics reported, "Palin pulled aside her close aide, Rebecca Mansour, to discuss a hush-hush assignment: Reach out to conservative filmmaker [and financier] Stephen K. Bannon with a request. Ask him if he would make a series of videos extolling Palin's governorship and laying to rest lingering questions about her controversial decision to resign from office with a year-and-a-half left in her first term."

Bannon is the chairman and CEO of Affinity Media - "the leading digital asset exchange and content company in the video game space," according to his Facebook page -- and has produced, directed and written a number of films. He apparently fell in love with the idea of doing Palin, and "he insisted upon taking complete control and financing it himself -- to the tune of $1 million."

RealClearPolitics reported that Bannon, who was a naval officer and formerly worked as a banker with Goldman Sachs, has stitched together "a two-hour-long, sweeping epic" that intends to rebrand Palin and "rebuild her image; an image that has taken a fair share of hits since she quit as Governor of Alaska midstream."

The film apparently thrilled both Sarah and husband Todd when they viewed it last week in Arizona.

RealClearPolitics' Scott Conroy reported that RCP "was recently given an exclusive screening of a rough cut of the now finished film, which Bannon designed, in part, to help catapult Palin from the presidential afterthought she has become in the eyes of many pundits directly to the front lines of the 2012 GOP conversation."

Conroy pointed out that while Palin "did not have any editorial role in the project, [she] facilitated access ... to key Alaskan defenders who were involved with the major achievements of her administration, and the filmmaker spent several weeks in the 49th state gathering archival film and conducting research and interviews for the project. He and his team took extraordinary measures to keep their endeavor secret."

He reported that while Palin was "not interviewed directly, the film features on-camera interviews and commentaries from 10 Alaskans who played different roles in her political rise, as well as six Lower 48 denizens who defend her in more visceral terms, including prominent conservative firebrands Mark Levin, Andrew Breitbart and Tammy Bruce.

"Divided into three acts, the film makes the case that despite the now clichéd label, Palin was indeed a maverick who confronted the powerful forces lined up against her to achieve wide-ranging success in a short period of time. The second part of the film's message is just as clear, if more subjective: that Sarah Palin is the only conservative leader who can both build on the legacy of the Reagan Revolution and bring the ideals of the tea party movement to the Oval Office.

"Rife with religious metaphor and unmistakable allusions to Palin as a Joan of Arc-like figure, 'The Undefeated' echoes Palin's 'Going Rogue' in its tidy division of the world between the heroes who are on her side and the villains who seek to thwart her at every turn."

"This film is a call to action for a campaign like 1976: Reagan vs. the establishment," Bannon told RealClearPolitics. "Let's have a good old-fashioned brouhaha."

Last year, Bannon wrote, produced and directed "Fire from the Heartland," which apparently was made under the auspices of Citizens United, and, according to the website Democracy, "showcase[d] the fired up Sarah Palins, Michelle Malkins and Ann Coulters of the conservative movement." He has also written, produced and directed "In the Face of Evil," and "Generation Zero," which won "Best Documentary" at the conservative Liberty Film Festival.

According to IMDb (The Internet Movie Database), Bannon also wrote, produced and directed "Battle for America" (2010), produced "Border War: The Battle Over Illegal Immigration" (2006), and apparently got his start by writing, producing and directing "In the Face of Evil: Reagan's War in Word and Deed."

In a 2005 interview with the New York Times, Bannon said that he was convinced "that culture drives politics," and that he "want[ed] to take the form that is now owned by the left - the documentary - and use it to help drive an overall political agenda that supports the culture of life."

The New York Times reported at the time that Bannon had met with Stephen McEveety, a producer of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," who reportedly controlled "a $100 million fund devoted to making and promoting family-oriented movies." The two were apparently "collaborating ... on two new Catholic-themed documentaries, one on cloning, and another on Pope Benedict XVI, which is budgeted at about $1 million."

In September 2004, McEveety and Bannon, who had "participated in discreet, religiously based outreach and financing initiatives," set about soliciting money for Hollywood's conservative filmmakers "from Washington's right-to-life movement."

After premiering in Iowa, Bannon said that he intends to hold showings in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, the next three primary states. After that., plans for the film are unclear: Bannon might try to release it to a wider audience while Palin's Political Action Committee (SarahPAC) may make it available to donors.

In the version that RealClearPolitics' Steve Conroy viewed, "Bannon dramatizes the theme of Palin's persecution at the hands of her enemies in the media and both political parties, a notion the former governor has long embraced. Images of lions killing a zebra and a dead medieval soldier with an arrow sticking in his back dramatize the ethics complaints filed by obscure Alaskan citizens, which Palin has cited as the primary reason for her sudden resignation in July of 2009."

What could be more Palin-like (read that offensive and obnoxious) than Sarah Palin asking a conservative filmmaker to make a tribute film about Sarah Palin?

ENDS

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