Client 9: The Rise And Fall Of Eliot Spitzer

Year:	2010
Country:	USA
Language:	English
Genre:	Documentary
IMDB:	IMDB Page
Rating:	1.0 Rate
Collection:	Seen It Wishlist
Community:	1 Has Seen


Director	Alex Gibney
Selected Cast	Alex Gibney as Narrator [voice]
	Eliot Spitzer as himself
	Ashley Dupré as herself

On DVD & Blu-ray World

Blu-ray

Client 9: The Rise And Fall Of Eliot Spitzer - Magnolia Home Entertainment - USA (2011)

Comments and Reviews


Twistin 22nd Mar 2020		Rated 1/10 A polished, stylized hit piece in reverse. "Client-9" is a documentary weighed down by its flattering, apologetic gloss that spends the majority of its screen time doting over its idol. The focus rests on explaining to us why specific crimes are so bad. Of course, these were the crimes that Eliot Spitzer made a name for himself taking down...since we probably can't deduce on our own that Wall Street sharks manipulating mutual funds is evil. No hard questions, no opposing perspectives...I don't even recall any heroes aside from Spitzer. I have little doubt that the financial cannibals depicted are the evildoers they appear to be, but how can I trust a presentation which resembles those extended campaign ads shown at political conventions before the star candidate makes a grand entrance? Campaign ads for Spitzer are indeed interjected with continued bias and lack of objectivity. Nary a slick production affectation is spared. Woke hip-hop music is strategically placed, in addition to emotional piano cues during confessional spiels. An onslaught of over-saturated primary colors, strategic ersatz cinéma vérité elements, merged with still images unfolding via slow pedestal / truck pans and rack focus montages. A virtual overdose of approval propaganda porn. The final reels ask why Spitzer was targeted for his sex crimes -- in this case, violation of the Mann Act (interstate transport for prostitution). Comparisons are routinely made to his opposing party's faults which help reveal the core of the film's problem, and that is painting all of his detractors as the cause of his downfall. "It's just sex..." one interviewee states. In actuality, the financial transactions paid for the pricey trysts were going to a pair of offshore shell companies, a front for the Emperors Club (details ignored by the film.) When the club owners were raided, feds found a safe housing a million dollars in cash! For an escort service? Some sex acts have legal complications and consequences. If you enter politics and play cowboy, it's probably a good idea to veer away from committing federal crimes in your spare time; it's not "just sex". Addressing the March 2008 US Federal Court affidavit, narrator (and director) Alex Gibney: "The list of charges against the Emperors Club, the affidavit, was surprisingly detailed; as a piece of writing it was crafted like a mystery story -- full of clues -- it teased the reader with a few sentences each with Clients 1 to 8, and then five riveting pages on Client number 9....The affidavit was full of steamy sexual banter...was the writing meant to convict the accused or embarrass the client?". The emphases in that quote cluster are not mine and are spoken with a mix of disdain and taunt. During those descriptions, words / phrases from the affidavit are highlighted like "pay for wire transfer", "collect the fee", and "private location". Subjects describe intruding questions from the FBI, as if their doing so was unusual and proof that the target of this inquiry was wronged by investigators probing for details. Gibney is upset at descriptions and details in an affidavit because it makes the subject of an investigation look bad?!? My beef with Spitzer is not partisan, nor based on his sex scandal. In July 2005, during his tenure as attorney general, I followed a case which appealed to my interest in the music industry - a shakedown on payola operations from major labels. I read multiple articles on the topic with vested interest. Sony was the target corporation in the investigation and "takedown" and found guilty of a catalog of state and federal crimes, resulting in praise from folks like Don Henley. Our AG is the hero, right? Wrong. As punishment, an Assurance of Discontinuance was issued in which Sony-BMG agreed to donate $10 million to a New York-based philanthropy group that funds music appreciation programs for N.Y. Further, a statement was released by Sony admitting they did wrong, accompanied by a "pledge" to do better in the future. Oh, and they agreed to stop the payoffs-for-airplay, reforms when problems are identified, and my favorite: hiring a compliance officer responsible for monitoring promotion practices, and to develop an internal accounting system to detect future abuses. Internal! In other words, monitor yourself. Where was this mentioned in our love letter to Spitzer? This film is pitched as a tale of "betrayal", but who betrayed him? Eliot Spitzer was a charismatic, talented politician and you really want to rally around him and to his defense; it's easy to be seduced by his combination of communication skills, assured dynamism, presence. and the sense that we all want a superhero to come along and put away bad guys. None of those skills excuses his crimes, hubris, or other issues the way his career is whitewashed in this celluloid slop. The producers appear to be bought off by their own idealism. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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