Pauline Hanson: Please Explain
Director– Anna Broinowski
Starring – Pauline Hanson, James Ashby, David Ettridge
Country of Origin- Australia
Discs - 1
Distributor - Umbrella
Reviewer - David Steigman
Date - 01/23/2017
The Film (5/5)
Pauline Hanson: Please Explain! is a documentary of the controversial political figure, Pauline Hanson who shook up the Australian political world and nearly ruined the Australian democracy with her racist views. The documentary starts with how she was first working at her own fish and chips restaurant. She later grew into political power starting with her starting out as a member of the Australian Parliament representing the Liberal Party in Australia to her winning a seat in Oxley as an independent as her support base wasn’t quite so liberal. She went on to be the co-founder of the One Nation – a conservative right wing party.
Her viewpoints and ideals were very racist toward Asians living in Australia, appealing toward the white audience. She claimed that Asians were taking over “the Queensland” which she and other Caucasians were against. She spoke for the average white Australians being treated equally, while being called xenophobe among other nasty names by the media, because of her disgust of Asians living in Australia. She felt Caucasians didn’t want Asians living in Australia and her support grew larger from angry white men.
Her views led to her to being stalked and threatened to having to hide from the media and avoid headlines that attacked her. She was also later found guilty for election fraud, given a three year prison term, but was later overturned eleven months later due to the information about the electron fraud being false. Finally in 2016, she elected to the Senate, representing Queensland; she has risen to power again with the same views as before.
The documentary is very well done and for those who are interested in Pauline Hanson, this offering is a great tool to learn and understand her. Some of her critics, advisors and others involved with her are on hand to lend their thoughts as well.
As for some editorial viewpoints stemming from this documentary, Pauline Hanson is nothing more than a female Donald Trump; in fact they deserve each other. She is a racist who needs to realize the world isn’t just white anymore. This is the 21st Century. This is a diverse world that we live in with people of different cultures and ethnicities all trying to survive. We are all human beings no matter what color our skin is or what race we are. The sooner the Hansons, Trumps and other bigots of the world figure this out, the better off our planet will be. There is no place in government for xenophobic racist bigots, and in fact there shouldn’t be a place in America for racism. Race and culture understanding is a beautiful thing and shouldn’t be tarnished or ruined by narrow minded bigots.
Audio/Video (4/5)
The image quality switches from widescreen 16 x 9 1:85:1 (current footage) and full screen 1:33:1(footage of Pauline shot in the 1990s). The new material for the documentary in 16 x 9 looks marvelous; it is standard definition but the colors are stunning, clear and strong, and overall is very pleasing. The archival footage from the 1990s which again is full screen is a mixed bag is very grainy VHS looking footage very good quality, depending on the source. In some instances colors tend to be bland and murky while in other spots colors are passable. It is vastly inferior to the widescreen footage which was shot in the past year.
The audio used for this DVD release is English Dolby digital 2.0 , and it’s perfectly fine without hissing or drop offs.
Extras (0/5) – not applicable
It’s a documentary which could be an extra in itself should a movie about Pauline Hanson ever be made.
Overall (4/5)
I think this was nice piece for fans and historians seeking information about the life and career of Pauline Hanson. It was a great way to get acquainted with one of Australia’s most controversial politicians
