The White House photographer for both Presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama is getting the Dawn Porter (RFK, John Lewis: Good Trouble) documentary treatment and its timing couldn’t be more impeccable.
The Way I See It not only serves as an introduction of Pete Souza to the world but frames our current political landscape in a manner that is not remotely pretty. From the compassion of Obama to the unflinching belief of the American City on the Hill of Reagan, the dignity and seriousness of the Presidency is what shines through more than anything in this first trailer for the promises to be a searingly engaging documentary.
The film comes from Academy Award, BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning producer extraordinaire, Evan Hayes (Free Solo), Academy Award and Emmy Award-winner Laura Dern (Marriage Story) and her Jaywalker Pictures partner Jayme Lemons—in partnership with Platform One Media. Look for it in theaters, at least that’s the plan, in September.
The Way I See It is based on the bestselling book of the same name that took the world behind-the-scenes of both the Reagan and Obama White Houses.
What is so striking is the access Souza got, particularly from our most recent POTUS. Obama felt that access to him was a right of the American people. That it was inherent within the job description for the President of the United States that the people be able to see what their leader was doing at practically any given moment. That’s the sacrifice one signs up for when one decides to run for the highest office in the land.
That is not the case currently, as described on this doc.