Film: The Last Republican

I was supposed to meet an old friend yesterday for dinner in the Abbey Tavern, en route back to the airport. But he cancelled, suggesting we leave it until we had more time - he has stuff going on too, it seems. Never mind, might be my excuse to fly back, sometime.. ate on the plane, in the end, which might become a habit.

Looking for films for today, I found a rather good one - The Last Republican is showing at the Curzon Bloomsbury. A documentary about Adam Kinzinger, who had the temerity to stand up to Trump and was, of course, fired as a result, it features a lot of real-life footage, as well as interviews with Kinzinger, his family, and his staff. Looked interesting.

On nice and late, so not only did I get to eat beforehand (rare for there), but I could stay nice and late at work, enabling me to get some stuff done. Google Maps' best suggestion for the #188 was that I walk from Holborn - but I knew it's just the reverse of the journey home from there every time, and there were a few buses that I could catch from there to just down from the Brunswick Centre. Sure enough, one materialised just as I got there, and it wasn't long before I was in GBK. Despite the beggar I met en route - one of those who persist in giving you an entire life story. I think she sped it up a bit as my eyes started to glaze over.. Sorry love, I don't carry cash, and I've been stung before. Anyway, GBK was very moreish.

Handily enough, nobody checked my ticket in the cinema - not because I didn't have one (I finally bought one when my discount showed up), but because it's rather hard to juggle three things (wine, chocolate, and phone) with only two hands! Ran to the loo before I went in - I was in plenty of time, and wouldn't touch the toilets in GBK - the food is great, but the toilets are disgusting. Sat in the very handy seating area outside the screen until the previous showing finished. And I was first into the screen, as soon as the cleaner emerged - on the aisle, for the simple reason that if I was going to leave a gap between me and another seat, the system required the gap to be of at least two seats..

Stop children, what's that sound.. everybody look what's going down..

I'm not American. But if I were, I highly doubt I'd vote Republican. Still, I couldn't help but warm to Kinzinger - he's young, he's handsome, and he's great fun! Hell, at the start of the film, the director asks why Kinzinger picked him to do this, considering he's a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat.. Kinzinger replies that what swung it for him was the director's previous work, Hot Tub Time Machine. Haven't seen it myself, but it looks good.. as the name implies, John Cusack and friends get into a hot tub, and go back in time to 1986..

But back to the film at hand. Point is, the dude makes sense. And as we see flashbacks of his life, crikey, it looks as though we really are looking at a future President - from an early age, he was obsessed with politics, was still a student when he was elected to the county board, was a lieutenant colonel in the air force.. and then he started winning elections. Consistently. And there he was, in the House of Representatives - you could say his future was set.

But he never supported Trump. And on the day of the attack on the Capitol, he had a funny feeling.. told his wife and staff to stay home, and went armed. When the warnings started coming in, he barricaded himself in his office and took out his gun. He was one of only two Republicans who subsequently voted in favour of a committee to investigate the attack. Which, of course, is why Nancy Pelosi selected him for the committee, when it did come about. As he points out in the film, he first learned of this when she announced it on tv, and it was something he wouldn't have chosen. But, there we are..

Watching Fox News' coverage, I wanted to scream.. this wasn't news!! This was childish, insulting - when he became emotional during the proceedings, which were televised, they accused him of acting - they made fun of him. I tell you, they hadn't so much to say when all the evidence had been given, including of Trump's involvement in incitement to riot (they're his mouthpiece, of course)..

Once the committee had concluded, both its Republican members were censured by the Republican Party - he'd already announced he wouldn't be seeking re-election anyway. Quit the Air Force too! And - that was essentially that. That's pretty much where the film ends, apart from pointing out that he needed security on his home, and he and his family have now moved. 

Jesu, what a change - from the golden boy to losing everything, all through no fault of his own. The director calls him courageous, for speaking out consistently against Trump - as he points out, it's not so much that he was courageous, but that he was surrounded by cowardice. He even gives us chapter and verse of how they could have taken the narrative from Trump - except nobody would. 

A very interesting watch - frustrating, if you, like me, are against Trump. Hell, Kinzinger is a man you would be proud to vote for, a man of bravery and principle. How he's been treated says a lot about the state of the nation today.. not a lot good, I'm afraid. Highly recommended.

The next two days, back with Meetup - tomorrow, with Up in the Cheap Seats for Romancero del Baile Flamenco - well now, that wasn't going to be a hard sell! Showing in Sadler's Wells, as part of their Flamenco Festival - olé! Eating beforehand in The Wilmington.

On Wednesday, back with London Literary Walks, for a walk about Elgar and Freud. Meeting in The North Star, Finchley Road.

And on Thursday, heading with TAC again, for Ruthless at Arches Lane Theatre.