arts & entertainment
A Palin Portrayal Lefties Will Like
F
air warning: This
revealing expose’ is
not for diehard sup-
porters of Sarah Palin. The
damning biopic essentially
paints the former governor
of Alaska as less of a Mama
Grizzly Bear than a power-
hungry witch who goes to
great lengths to crush her
adversaries, whether they
be political or personal.
“Sarah Palin: You
Betcha!” is directed by Nick
Broomfield, who also stars
in the alternately humorous
and eye-opening documen-
tary. Like a British mix of
Borat and Michael Moore,
he crisscrosses Alaska, stop-
ping of course in his sub-
ject’s hometown of Wasilla,
to sort the truth from fiction
in terms of all the ugly
rumors that have been lev-
eled against Palin since she
entered the public con-
sciousness during the run-
up to the 2008 presidential
election.
What Broomfield finds is
that most of the natives are
reluctant
to
appear
onscreen, ostensibly out of a
fear of suffering reprisals
for cooperating with his
project. As a result, most of
the folks who do talk had
been so betrayed by Palin
that they were not inclined
M ovie
r evieW
by Kam
Williams
to mend fences.
For instance, John Stein
laments how in 1996, when
he was the incumbent
mayor of Wasilla, he was
stabbed in the back by his
state.
In another sequence,
Palin’s ex-brother-in-law
recounts how upon becom-
ing governor, Palin decided
a top policy matter would be
getting him fired from the
Alaska State Troopers
because he was divorcing
her sister. That case has
received loads of media
attention in recent years, but
others in the film testify that
this sort of vindictiveness
was typical, that she exhib-
ited an unusual interest in
matters which affected her
“You Betcha!” is a journey across
Alaska’s anti-Sarah landscape
protégé, Sarah Palin. She
not only declared her candi-
dacy for his job but pro-
ceeded to run campaign ads
that called to replace him
with a Christian. So much
for separation of church and
Excellent IIII
Unrated
Running time: 91
minutes
Distributor:
Freestyle Releasing
Page 8 The Portland Skanner october 12, 2011
family. Meanwhile, she
ostensibly ignored the busi-
ness of government, often e-
mailing and text-messaging
instead of paying attention
during official meetings and
hearings.
As for Sarah’s side of the
story, the intrepid is shown
sticking a microphone in her
face in public on several
occasions. And while she
politely agreed to a tete-a-
tete at a more convenient
time to talk, her office
apparently never returned
any of his calls.
Bourbon at the Border
P
assinArt theater company will open
‘Bourbon at the Border’ at Interstate
Firehouse Cultural Center Thursday
Oct. 13.
The play, by the award-winning Atlanta-
based writer Pearl Cleage offers an inti-
mate story of an African-American couple
whose lives were forever changed after
they became Freedom Riders, during the
civil rights era.
It was 1961 when the civil rights pio-
neers who became the famed Freedom
Riders traveled to the Deep South to defy
Jim Crow. Their goal? To test the 1960
Supreme Court Ruling that declared segre-
gation in interstate buses and rail stations
unconstitutional. The Freedom riders
showed incredible courage in the face of
hatred and extreme violence. Many
endured savage beatings and brutality
while local police refused to intervene. Yet
their endurance and courage would inspire
America and transform the Civil Rights
Movement. In November 1961, the
Interstate Commerce Commission issued
rules prohibiting segregation transporta-
tion facilities.
Bourbon at the Border takes us into the
lives of May and Charlie, who joined hun-
dreds of other Americans on a journey to
Mississippi in the summer of 1964 for a
massive voter registration drive, they had
no idea how big a decision that was or how
it would reverberate through their lives.
As students at Howard University, their
campus activism had been simply met
with annoying calls to their parents and
constant threats of expulsion. However,
the stakes in Mississippi were a lot higher.
White supremacists, outraged at the chal-
lenge to their segregated way of life,
responded with violence that left three
civil rights workers dead and many
wounded.
‘Bourbon at the Border’ will show at
7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays to
Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays at the Interstate
Firehouse, 5340 N Interstate Ave.
The production will run through Nov.
5., Tickets are: $20 and $17 students and
seniors.
For more information Call 503.235.8079
email passinart@yahoo.com or visit:
www.passinart.org