Pretend politician Sarah Palin has not made an official declaration that she will run for President in 2012. But it’s impossible to ignore that silence when every moment of the former Alaskan governor is dedicated to self-promotion, which has culminated in “The Undefeated,” the probably-inappropriately-titled documentary commissioned by Palin and directed by conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon. With premieres in primary states like Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada over the summer, Palin is planning to rollout the film in fifty to a hundred nationwide markets to further spread her gospel before a VOD deal that will allow you to laugh at it from the privacy of your own home. And this will be one spicy meatball, as the film will arrive in a PG-13 cut in theaters with an Unrated version available in some form or another.
The doc, apparently self-financed by Bannon though brainstormed by Palin, is said to serve as “a a galvanizing prelude to Palin’s prospective presidential campaign — an unconventional reintroduction to the nation that she and her political team have spent months eagerly anticipating.” That is, according to RealClearPolitics, who have seen an early two-hour cut, footage that contains zero interview clips from Palin herself. However, it does feature the image of a medieval soldier with an arrow through his head, as well as a lion killing a zebra, somehow meant to portray “the theme of Palin’s persecution at the hands of her enemies in the media and both political parties.” Obviously. And in a curious bit of self-hatred, the film also has a clip montage with folks like Rosie O’Donnell, Matt Damon, Bill Maher, David Letterman and Howard Stern trashing Palin — how this is meant to help her campaign is beyond us.
Bannon has previously made documentaries on Ronald Reagan (“In The Face Of Evil“) and the Tea Party movement (“Generation Zero“), so it’s not a surprise Palin would stick with him rather than someone like R.J. Cutler, who could probably do a great service to the Palin name while maintaining his artistic integrity, but is probably considered a member of the “media elite” or something. As a result, Bannon (who originally wanted to call the film “Take A Stand”) will be a part of a can’t-lose proposition, as the film is set to give him the biggest publicity boost of his career. And if it fails to draw crowds, of course, it will be at the fault of the “liberal media” and he will become a conservative martyr. Politics — helping people fail upward since 100 BC.