Election

Election is a savvy and funny satire about urban life, a very entertaining film indeed; twanging sharp tipped arrows into all sorts of targets and most of them bite deeply.

Sexual politics and the type of people who become political candidates get a big but affectionate serve.

Tracy (Reese Witherspoon) is a final year student at an American high school who savagely wants to win her school election and become the president of her school student body.

She's fussy, aggressively conservative and above all extremely ambitious. She's the type who's got her arm up eagerly begging to answer every question during class.

She hasn't got many friends but recognises this to be the price of greatness. She's calculating and a world beater.

Her teacher Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick) is a little dowdy, mindful of his career, reasonably happily married and not overly ambitious.

He's proud of the fact that he's been chosen as the teacher of the year three times and cares about his students. He's slipped into a pleasing routine which includes running the student election.

Things start to go wrong when the teacher develops an intense dislike for Tracy, a feeling that would probably not have developed except for some fairly unrelated but torrid personal reasons.

The teacher decides to try to stop Tracy being elected. He reasons that if he can stop her now well maybe he'll ring one bell for the nicer, more caring people who might want to get into politics.

Election takes a good deal of its strength from the way its told. Director and co writer Alexander Payne (Citizen Ruth 1996) has structured it with voice overs such that many points of view are given. He allows the satire to flow in all directions.

A disabled fellow in a wheel chair is elected unopposed as Vice President to luke warm applause. Someone else professes his love for a sibling in spite of that person having been adopted.

No one is sacred, although the tone is never nasty. Tracy is even likeable in many ways for all of her faults.

If it's true that there are three types of people in the world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what the hell happened, then Election gives good examples of all three.

Sometimes two hours of film seems to gather within it a good deal of life's experience.

For example the consequences of having sex with the wrong people in Election are disastrous, just as the consequences of deceitfulness and ambition can be fruitful.

On the other hand it's obvious that not having much of an idea about what is going on can be a definite positive advantage.

The satire in Election is heightened by a scintillating performance by Reese Witherspoon as Tracy Flick. Man In The Moon (1991), Freeway (1997) and last year's Cruel Intentions has signaled an actress with an ever increasing range and effectiveness.

She's still doesn't look too old for these parts and certainly wasn't out of her depth in Election where as I've said we were able to still sometimes like the niceness that was somewhere hidden beneath her pleated skirts, brushed down hair and forcefulness.

Election also accepts that people's motivations for their actions are often murky especially to themselves, as well as being multi faceted.

Films that lurch sometimes uncomfortably beyond single issue decisions and personalities is a delight and makes for very good film making.

I expect that not everyone will enjoy Election; it's far too lethal for that, but it's a relief to see these sorts of films pop up every now and then on the mainstream circuit.