Directing: B
Writing: B
Cinematography: B-
Editing: B

It shouldn’t be, but The Way I See It is an absolutely partisan look at a man who was the Chief White House Photographer for eight years under the Obama Administration—and also worked on the photographer staff late in the Reagan Administration. But make no mistake: photographer Pete Souza is out to tell the world what a vile presence Donald Trump is in the White House, how he is a sorry excuse for a president, especially in contrast to his predecessor.

Now, I wholeheartedly agree with that assessment, but that is kind of beside the point. A documentary that simply focused on Souza’s fantastic work documenting the Obama presidency would speak for itself. Souza’s Instagram account pointedly throwing shade at Trump using archived photos of Obama speaks for itself. I’m not convinced the world needed a film that effectively combined the two things. It could easily be argued that The Way I See It is redundant.

Does all that mean I hated it, then? Not at all! I rather enjoyed it, actually, although the film’s marketing is slightly misleading in its suggestion that it spends a lot more time on Souza’s time photographing Reagan when he was a young photographer in his thirties. The implication, clearly, is that Souza is not partisan: his crusade against Donald Trump is about decency, regardless of political party.

Well, The Way I See It spends maybe 10% of its run time on Souza’s work with Reagan; maybe 80% of its time on his work with Obama; and another 10% of its time specifically on Souza’s post-Obama, anti-Trump crusading. This movie is very much preaching to the choir, and yet I am tempted to state my chief complaint is that it’s too easy on Reagan—a bit of a pet peeve of mine, this implication in the Trump Era that the current president somehow makes previous awful presidents “better.” Souza talks about how much Ronald loved Nancy (sure, fine); that he was a fundamentally empathetic man (hmm, maybe), and that a particular photo of Reagan holding a black baby with HIV “helped de-stigmatize” AIDS (uh, that’s a bit of a reach). This much I’ll grant Reagan: he did maintain a level of respect for people who disagreed with him about many things. Souza was one of those people.

Beyond that, The Way I See It is packed to the gills with photos of President Obama, his family, and others in his orbit between 2004, when he was first elected to the Senate, and 2016. Countless of these photos are truly fantastic. I found myself wishing I could spend more time looking at several different specific ones. Like, say, in a photography book. You could say that’s a better medium for all these images. On the other hand, a film has the potential to reach a lot more people.

“Potential” being the operative word, there. I am reviewing this film now after having seen it as a SIFF-sponsored advanced screening—virtually. That was a new experience for me. It opens tomorrow in “select theaters,” but, clearly, not on the West Coast. Even as a documentary I would have much preferred seeing it in a theater, but, here we are. Either way I would never have told anyone else to rush out to see it in theaters. Lovers of Barack Obama will love it; lovers of Donald Trump will hate it; whatever the case, most of my readers won’t have access to it until it’s available streaming somewhere. I suppose some of you can drive to some theater in Idaho or Montana if you’re that eager, but there’s really no need.

As for me, I will admit: I am as far from a fan of Donald Trump as anyone can get; I am a moderate fan of Baack Obama. The Way I See It, a good but imperfect documentary, did make me a pretty big fan of Pete Souza. He’s an excellent photographer, his crusading is pointed in the right direction, and this movie gives his work a nice showcase.

*You’ll probably enjoy this portrait, implicit bias notwithstanding.*

Overall: B