Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (2010)
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (2010) — Okay, I’ll start with an attempt to evaluate this as a film. It’s clear director Alex Gibney has a perspective on the events discussed and that comes through clearly while presenting both sides of the argument in a fashion that allows the viewer to make up their own mind. The pace of the film is good and the clips and interviews are for the most part engaging and informative. Spitzer’s enemies like Hank Greenberg and Ken Langone are interviewed alongside his friends and co-workers. Cecil Suwal, the former “CEO” of the Emperor’s Club escort service is kind of a bizarre person who has to be seen to be believed. Spitzer himself seems to be somewhat candid, while backing off from getting into any real details. He may be trying to rehabilitate his image, but he still acknowledges major moral failings on his part. The interview that didn’t exactly work for me was with “Angelina,” Spitzer’s favorite call girl, (NOT Ashley Dupre, who is revealed as an extreme opportunist who only saw Spitzer once and now apparently works for Fox News and The New York Post?). The girl only spoke to Gibney on condition of anonymity; no real names and she didn’t want to be on camera. So an actress performs her side of the interview and I think she kind of overdoes it. Anyway, so that’s my assessment of the film-making. The rest of this is just going to be me being angry about the world. God damn, this movie made me hate Eliott Spitzer for the simple reason that it made me love pre-hooker Eliott Spitzer. To think about the good that the man could have done if he hadn’t fucked up so spectacularly! The movie makes a pretty compelling case that the enemies he made on Wall Street probably pulled some elaborate strings to bring his little habit to the light of day, but that’s incidental. Of course if you fuck with the profit margins of those greedy fucks they’re going to try to destroy you. THAT’S WHY YOU HAVE TO BE CLEAN. You can spend thousands on hookers if you want to be the governor. Someone will find out. If you take on the powerful and corrupt, you cannot have any weaknesses for them to exploit. So fuck you, Eliot Spitzer. The memory of your rather significant accomplishments fade in comparison to your shenanigans. The thoughts of what you could have accomplished, especially in light of what went down on Wall Street later in the year of your resignation (2008), is relegated to sad file of “what if.” Fuck you.
Persistence of Vision 