The Contender

I would have liked to see The Contender in the cinema, but only one print came to the country. When it finally reached Aarhus, the audience had forgotten it existed, so it was only allowed to run for a week before it was taken off. That is quite undeserved. For The Contender is an intelligent and entertaining political drama that takes the pulse of the political game and of politicians' morals, or lack of them, in the USA. Especially against the background of the Monica Lewinsky affair, the film must be said to be rather topical. It raises some central questions about the highly personality-fixated political debate and is also a critique of that very debate.

The Vice President of the USA has suddenly died, so it now falls to President Jackson Evans to find a suitable replacement. He has several options, but ends up choosing Senator Laine Hanson of Ohio for reasons of gender politics. The president does not expect it to be difficult to get his choice approved, but the chairman of the confirmation committee, the Republican Shelly Runyon, has another favourite.

Runyon launches a smear campaign on the internet, where those interested can read about Laine Hanson's sexual excesses in her student days. Hanson refuses to comment on the allegations, as she considers it irrelevant and beneath her dignity to have to respond to them. That attitude does nothing for her popularity in the White House, which wants her to deny the rumours and drag the rumour-mongers into court.

The film is sober right up until the end, where it goes a little over the top with a feel-good ending that does not quite fit the tone of the rest of the film.