SnoopyStyle
This starts with a quote "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." That is essentially the movie and the man in a nutshell.Ralph Nader throws his hat into the presidential election in 2004 and the Democrats are up in arms. The movie goes into his life as a consumer advocate starting with the automobile industry. It also digs into his personality and his single-mindedness. Then he runs for president in 2000. It tries to defend Ralph Nader's campaign but even his manager comes off as a political hack who has her talking points. Even his academic Democratic supporter has flaws simply on the surface of his research. Ultimately, every one of his arguments fall flat. They come off as either politically naive (which I don't buy) or politically insular or worst politically self-serving. Ralph needs to show some understanding of the Democratic opposition arguments but that's not the man. He is an unreasonable man. The idea that someone could be his supporter in 2000 and his opponent in 2004 is confounding to him. It's a sort of willful ignorance that his Democratic opponents level on him. It doesn't really go too much into the 2004 election other than Kerry was polite but didn't go along with his demands. In the end, this is a tragedy of an unreasonable man.
Gethin Van Haanrath
It's amusing to see all these hot topic liberals in 2000 supporting Ralph Nader and then running away as quickly as possible in 2004. This speaks volumes about what's wrong with the US political system. Don't vote your conscious, vote convenience. What better way to preserve the status quo? Michael Moore in particular is shown in 2000 in New York in this film praising Ralph Nader at an event at Madison Square Gardens. Four yeas later he's literally grovelling on his knees and asking Nader not to run. I'm not a Green but Nader is a stubborn son-of-a-bitch and that's exactly what's needed in US politics, people who are unrelenting and don't give up no matter how badly the odds are stacked against them. Those people are the best activists. I really wish though that Nader had sat down in front of the building holding the Presidential debates in 2000 and allowed himself to get arrested. It could have put him over the top. It would have made for great optics.
TheEmulator23
This is an excellent documentary that covers both sides of feelings towards Ralph Nader. I personally find the guy to be too extreme but believe he started in the right place. The title surely does sum him up though, he seems to be extremely unreasonable and even a little nutty. I would think his younger self would smack his older self by what he has become. He says it's all about the consumer, but he is a megalomaniac whether he admits it or not. Even if you don't like the man, this is still a very well done & will teach you a little about this guy. Politics or no, as wrong or right as you believe him to be it's heart seems to be in the right place.
Roland E. Zwick
If any single individual can be said to have determined the outcome of an election, it would have to be Ralph Nader. And if any one person can be credited with saving thousands of lives through the actions he's performed and the stands he's taken, well that would be Ralph Nader too.After decades as the world's premiere consumer activist and all-around corporate gadfly, Nader should, in the sunset of his life, be basking in the glow of unalloyed adulation, a shiny symbol of hope and courage for the common man in this country. Instead, he finds himself a figure more reviled than revered by those who should love him most.The documentary "An Unreasonable Man" attempts to explore the reason for this mystifying love/hate dichotomy. Filmmakers Henriette Mantel and Steve Skrovan trace the path of Nader's life beginning with his childhood in Connecticut, where he was raised by his socially-conscious parents to champion fairness and the cause of the little guy, to his eventual career as the populist activist par excellence, taking on corporate behemoths in the name of consumer safety. The movie chronicles the run-ins with GM that turned Nader into not only a household name but clearly "one of the most admired men in America." We see him inspiring a band of college students - who came to be known as "Nader's Raders" - who successfully took on any number of corporate giants throughout the 1960's and 1970's, resulting in many of the consumer protection laws we take so much for granted today. He was clearly a pioneer in his field, and the movie is an inspiring tribute to the selflessness, determination and courage that helped this one man make such a difference in the world (the movie reminds us that before Nader even seatbelts were not standard items in automobiles).It's with the coming of the Reagan Revolution in the 1980's that Nader began to become severely disillusioned, as he watched the new conservative administration, hostile to the very principle of governmental protectionism, dismantle many of the programs Nader had dedicated his life to setting up. But his disillusionment did not extend merely to Republicans. For it was at this point that Nader began to claim that there wasn't a "dime's worth of difference" between the Republicans and Democrats, a realization that compelled him to finally run in 2000 as a Presidential candidate on the Green Party ticket. The rest, of course, is history, with many Democrats, some formerly close friends of Nader, choosing to blame their fallen idol for Gore's squeaker loss in Florida (and, consequently, the nation) on that fateful election night.Although "An Unreasonable Man" presents Nader in a generally flattering light, it does not shy away from the very genuine anger Nader's actions have aroused in many of his former followers. Many blame him for ensuring Bush's victory and, thus by extension, for eight years of what they would describe as appalling Republican leadership. Others take a more philosophical view, worrying more about how all this might taint the very impressive legacy Nader built up over many decades of tireless social activism. In true maverick style, Nader pooh-poohs this concern, claiming that fighting for people is what he truly cares about, not how he will be viewed by future generations. The movie provides many opportunities for Nader's faithful supporters to have their say, as well, so we get a fascinating debate about whether ideological purity or steely-eyed pragmatism should be the key factor in determining one's vote in a presidential election. One of the most interestingly ironic moments in the film comes when we see Michael Moore, who is usually the one doing the sandbagging in his own films, being sandbagged himself as he is shown flip-flopping on his support for Nader between the 2000 election where he spoke at Nader rallies and the 2004 election where he pleads with Nader not to run.Even people who are still embittered by Nader's role in the 2000 election may find themselves softening in their attitude towards him a bit after watching this film. The movie certainly reminds us of the great debt of gratitude we owe him as a nation, and, even when he is at his most obstinate in the political realm, we sense that he is being that way for ideologically honest reasons, not out of ego or malice. It's awfully hard not to find oneself cheering him on as he attempts to force his way into the audience for one of the 2000 presidential debates, after he and all the other independent candidates had been officially banned from the premises. "An Unreasonable Man" provides a generous helping of archival footage to go along with the passionate interviews on both sides of the Nader spectrum (the movie does not, however, provide any real conservative voices, except for Patrick Buchanan, who, on many issues is actually more aligned with Nader's positions than opposed to them).Love him or loathe him, this is a fantastically interesting and informative documentary about one of the most influential figures of the last hundred years.
