de facto film reviews 3 stars

The Last Republican is an unlikely documentary film to come from the director of Hot Tub Time Machine, but it was apparently just that quirky fact that led Adam Kinzinger, now former congressman from Illinois, to allow cameras to follow him for over a year as he sat on the January 6th committee. It is a portrait of conflicting interests, of integrity and of courage, though one the subject would disagree about. “I don’t think I’m courageous. I’m just surrounded by cowards” Kinzinger says toward the end of the film. Yet, the very fact he stood up among a sea of people wishing him harm, might just make for a courageous figure.

Many documentaries take a hard-hitting approach, particularly when the subject is still alive, by asking questions they are clearly uncomfortable with. Here, the approach is a little muted in that director Steve Pink does not act aggressively with his subject, though he still asks tough questions that illicit a range of responses. Pink also gives room to Kinzinger’s staff, including his chief of staff and his secretary, a competent individual who has spent decades on the Hill. While they are not the focus of the film, getting the glimpses we do allows the audience to understand how truthful the film is when it comes to showing who the congressman is and how he connects with people.

The Last Republican | Rotten Tomatoes

The film is part biography, and acts a bit like a “Profile in Courage” where one can almost imagine this serving as an audition for later political acts. The question, of course, being if Kinzinger has a political future, at least in the modern Republican party, after serving on the committee and taking a stand against those he opposed. He makes it very clear, in the film, that his opposition is about what is right and standing up for rules, conventions and respecting the history and traditions and sacrifices of a nation. In that sense, it can be seen as a campaign video, but it is also a testament about what he stood for and how he stood for it.

The approach to the film is different from that, of, say, a Michael Moore, who prefers to involve himself more directly with the events, yet it is also not as distant as those stuffy films you may have watched in a class once upon a time. This is a film that allows a complex figure to emerge. Here is a man who feels that it is not he that has left his party, but that his party has left him, and it comes down to what they are willing to tolerate and how they are willing to achieve their goals. The film is not focused as much on what his platform is, but rather on who and how he is as a person and public servant.

The Last Republican (2024) | MUBI

One key, indeed vital decision, was to not have the film papered with narration. While there are occasionally subtitles that give information about when, where or what is happening, the film allows the people involved in the story, along with archival footage of events, to be the ones telling the story. The effect allows a viewer to connect not only with the subjects but with the topic and themes in their own way. This does not feel like a guided tour. Instead, it feels almost intimate while at the same time maintaining professional distance. The film never makes Kinzinger a hero, nor does the word ever enter into it. By focusing on words, deeds and the facts of the case, the film builds a power that reminds us how truths are shaped and what we must always be on guard not to lose.

THE LAST REPUBLICAN is now playing in limited theaters.