Sundance’s “The Hill”

Tonight at DC Drinking Liberally, we got to see a preview of the first episode of The Hill. First off, it was like any documentary - the production values were a little roughened, the camera cuts a little sharp, etc. But it did what it meant to do - get a sense of the people across. I was fortunate enough to be in the room with at least three of the staffers, looking back and forth between the screen and them. Yes, the people on the show are people on Congressman Wexler’s staff, and he is there as well.

But I’ll be honest - the show is all about the staffers, and even if it wasn’t, they would have stolen the show right from Wexler.

You hear political opinions you might or might not completely agree with, but you see human beings in the process - and you get to see political opinions expressed on television that you just don’t outside of say, the Daily Show. You see people whose goals are sane.

The scenes leading up to and during the 2004 election… are worth seeing the first episode alone, even if it tears your heart out. It did mine, but those moments are FAR from everything wonderful about that half-hour.

I couldn’t stay for the discussion afterwards. I very, very much wish I didn’t have to bolt out at the end of the show, and I wish I had enough time to give you a real idea of just how uplifting this was - not because it was a slick production, but because it shows some of the very real feelings and frustration with living under a GOP government, and still evokes the tremendous fight still left in us.