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Jimmy Carter Man from Plains
EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Classics
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 22 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 6 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Documentary
Written by: Jonathan Demme
Directed by: Jonathan Demme
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 26, 2007
DVD: March 25, 2008
Running Time: 120 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for some thematic elements and brief disturbing images
Starring Jimmy Carter, and Rosalynn Carter
Jimmy Carter Man From Plains is an intimate, surprising encounter with President Jimmy Carter. Following the path of Mr. Carter's recent controversial book tour for Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, director Jonathan Demme reveals a complex individual who, with the gusto and determination of a youngster, criss-crosses the country to get his message across, even as that message creates a media onslaught in which his credibility and judgment are called into question. Jimmy Carter Man From Plains explores both the private and public sides of Jimmy Carter, whose intense sense of justice compels him to pursue, with undiminished energy and hope, his lifelong and deeply spiritual vision of reconciliation and peace. (Sony Pictures Classics)
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Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
An intriguing document, and the first significant film ever made about a former U.S. president.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
It's galvanizing to see it played out through the furious contradiction of Carter's personality. He is pious, stubborn, compassionate, testy, moral, unreasonable, and wise.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
The portrait of Carter has been described as hagiography, but it isn't a stretch to view his quiet integrity as saintly next to the track records of his successors.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Shows a man whose beliefs, both political and religious, seem to reinvigorate him; he even carries his own luggage in airports and hotels.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
A documentary that falls somewhere between overlong and compelling as it follows the 39th president on his controversial book tour.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Though not exactly a valentine to the octogenarian Nobel Peace Prize winner, the film is a lovingly rendered, candid and intimate portrait.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
It's a remarkably intimate look at the man and his thinking, and you wish for more history to flesh out the biographical aspects of his life.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
I'm still not quite sure why it's so compelling. I think this movie's appeal is overdetermined, as we used to say in sophomore Marxist-theory class, meaning that it derives from so many sources you can't keep track of them all.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
These may be the qualities of a great man, but they're not exactly the stuff of a great documentary subject, especially given how hard Carter works to defuse the emotions stirred up by his book.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
There is no doubting Jonathan Demme's admiration for our 39th President: It's apparent from the opening scenes.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The minutiae of Carter's book tour isn't always enthralling, but his personality drives the film: pious, stubborn, devoted to his wife, curious, professional, warm and yet slightly removed from the fray, conciliatory, meticulous, self-effacing, funny, decent, intellectually rigorous and firmly committed to his positions.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
Man From Plains isn’t about engagement; it’s about disengagement from Mr. Carter’s critics and his more provocative beliefs. It’s also about legacy building.
Read Full Review >Variety Ronnie Scheib
Thanked and vilified from coast to coast, Carter remains steadfast in his belief that Israel's policies in the Occupied Territories are unjust and counterproductive.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
This narrowly cast documentary focuses so exclusively on a publicity tour the former president took in the closing months of 2006 that a more accurate title might be "Jimmy Carter How I Sold My Book."
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Sid Smith
Carter comes off as compassionate and intelligent. But the complex issues brought up in his book don’t get much more than a superficial debate.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
The movie doesn't offer much new to anyone familiar with Carter.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White
Jimmy Carter documentary is a smug, self-righteous monologue.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
Demme's documentary portrait, Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains, has no surfeit of good intentions. In fact, running over two hours, they're nearly suffocating.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
There isn't enough revealing material in the tedious documentary Jimmy Carter Man From Plains to sustain an 800-word magazine profile, let alone a two-hour film.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.1 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Chad S. gave it a7:
Former president Jimmy Carter was still in office when Carl Reiner's "The Jerk" played in first-run theaters. Navin R. Jackson(Steve Martin) hailed from the south(Mississippi), and was a white boy raised by a black family, just like former president Carter, a Georgia boy, who although not adopted like Cat Juggler, was looked after by an African-American woman named Rachel, a sharecropper, during his formative years in Plains. When the ex-president visits Darfur, he wears the traditional Sudanese clothing, and dances, badly, to the Sudanese beat, albeit not so in a condescending fashion, because this Nobel Peace Prize-winning octogenarian feels a genuine ease around black people. But Carter has the rhythm of ex-Laker Mark Madsen(best ESPN highlight, ever!), as does Navin, when he claps in time to the songs of his adopted family. Jimmy Carter is not a jerk. "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" is not a racist book. Read it. Or more to the point, buy it. This documentary is more about commerce than art. There's no way of getting around it, "Jimmy Carter: Man From the Plains" does play like an informercial for his hardcover bestseller about Israel's totalitarian-like occupation of Palestinian homelands. But the film also speak volumes of the pervading anti-intellectualism that's dumbing down our culture, in which people will make vicious attacks on a person's character without any substantiation to back up their opening salvos and thrown gauntlets.
Rob S. gave it a0:
Terrorist enabler, blame America 1st, giving away our territory (Panama Canal), appointing the most radical leftist Attorney General in history (Ramsey Clark), oh and don't let me forget his cowardly handling of our hostages in Iran. How dare they make a propaganda piece reinventing this man to something he never was or incapable of being. PS he's also antisemitic.
Jay H. gave it an8:
Impressive documentary of a very impressive former president. Very thought provoking and portrays a neutral viewpoint. I believe Jimmy Carter will go down in history as one of the greatest presidents ever, and this film shows why.
Alex Z. gave it a4:
This movie strictly preaches to the choir. Carter was one of the worst presidents in US History. But now as an elder statesman a little revionist History can't hurt.
Julie M. gave it a9:
Pieced together from footage of the months following the release of Carter's controversial book, Palestine, the movie gives a behind the scenes view of Carter, in his 80's, boldly welcoming the chance to meeth with his critics--a natural peace-broker. In one shot, his publicist suggests asking that the media not be invited to a particularly hostile meeting with critics. Carter says simply that he does not care if the media is there or not. The movie easily drew me in, and, as the criticism and accusations became more angry and more personal, it had me on edge watching his pain and waiting to see how he would hold up. The best parts were hearing Carter's heartfelt, precise, respectful, and exceedingly intelligent explanations to his critics. (Reminds of of Bill Clinton). When asked if his choice of book title won't hurt his cause, he ponders and answers honestly, "Maybe," but then explains his decision. Priceless, too, were the shots of Carter interacting warmly with everyone he met, even strangers on a plane--he genuinely loves people. Of course, you also get snippets of his past triumphs--most notablly, brokering peace between Egypt and Israel--and difficulties, and his humble beginnings in Georgia. He was also surprisingly funny. I look forward to watching the movie again.
