The Way I See It: Obama's Presidential photographer focuses on Trump through an angry lens
By Karen Gordon
Rating: A
Dawn Porter’s excellent documentary The Way I See it, is ostensibly about White House photographer and author Pete Souza.
But really, the film – which recently debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival - feels more like a pas de deux, where subject and filmmaker want to make the same point, and are making it together as Americans head to the polls to elect a new President.
The photographer who took unobtrusive shots of the Obama White House is now a man on a mission.
Souza was the Chief Official White House Photographer to two Presidents, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, men who, as he points out, happen to have become symbols to their respective parties. Although their politics were very different, Souza says his almost unlimited access to those men gave him an up-close-and-personal experience of the qualities of character of both.
Though he’s spent so much time in the White House, Souza says he’s apolitical. But, that changed as he watched Donald Trump take on the role of President. Souza says he was so appalled at the way Trump was behaving, and by his lack of maturity, and compassion, that he was motivated to do something publicly. And since the tools at his disposal were his photographs, Souza first began to post images on Instagram that showed the contrast between Trump and his predecessor.
That led him to publish two books: “Obama: An Intimate Portrait” and “Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents.” The latter draws direct comparisons between the compassionate, empathetic, mature Obama and a man devoid of all those qualities, Donald Trump.
Dawn Porter uses Souza’s book tour, as a frame for him to tell his own story, and, through photographs, show not only that Trump doesn’t have the character to be a leader, but what America has lost by having a President more interested in photo ops and insulting tweets than true leadership.
When Souza was first hired to work with Reagan, he looked to previous Presidential photographers to understand the role and inform his approach. He believes it’s an incredibly important one. With so much access, the photographer captures the moments between the big announcements and events: moments of contemplation, various casual daily interactions, light moments, serious situations.
Through the lens, the Presidential photographer is able to make a record of how the human being at the center of one of the most powerful positions in the world is handling the responsibility.
His personal aim was to have almost complete access to the President, so that he became a fact of life and could be so unobtrusive that he could observe and photograph the president without being a distraction. No one was playing for the camera.
By doing so, he was able to capture, as purely as possible, everything from ordinary day-to-day interactions that reveal the human being in times of happiness and under pressure, to tense and historic moments.
The film gives us some glimpses of previous Presidents, including Souza’s with Reagan. But the film mostly focuses on Obama. Souza’s camera captured Obama through good times and rough times. Images with his own children, are contrasted with shots of Obama comforting deeply grieving parents whose elementary aged children died in the Sandy Hook shootings.
Seen now, years later, the reminder of the caliber of humanity evinced by Obama is heart wrenching – especially after four years of Trump, the posed photos he organized, and his detached and callous reaction to a series of disasters.
Porter keeps the film on target journalistically. Pete Souza is a terrific photographer and his work makes the film visually arresting. But he’s also a terrific subject, articulate, rational and calm.
In the end, Porter moves the film from Souza and the past, and turns the attention of all we’ve heard and seen to the future. Pete Souza was moved to speak up because he believes that Donald Trump is not fit for the office.
Porter and Souza together, in this film, are using his images as a reminder that a true leader can bring more than just relief from a chaotic time, and that the best leaders have always had a deep and measured well of compassion.
In the end the film turns to the current campaign, and Joe Biden, a man with a reputation for empathy, respect for others and compassion.
The film ends with a clear message, a hope for the future in a candidate they both believe can bring those values back.
The Way I See It. Directed by Dawn Porter. Starring Pete Souza, Barack Obama, Donald Trump. Opens in theatres, including Toronto’s Market Square, Friday, September 18.