Die Rede

November 4th, 2008. President-elect Barack Obama addresses an enthusiastic gathering in Chicago's Grant Park. With the three words 'Yes, we can', Barack Obama sums up the America's optimism and its capacity for change. The documentary 'The Speech' sets out to take this historic speech at its word. It seeks a dialogue about words and their effect, while also assessing a whole era. It takes us back to the beginning of Obama's presidency, to the energy of his words, to the hopes and achievements that this speech was targeting. In a consciously radical fashion, the film focuses on the words. Witnesses are interviewed and it is their memories, emotions and criticisms that provide the framework for the film. Rev. Jesse Jackson talks about his tears, George Packer (writer, "The Unwinding") reflects the speech as well as Jill Abramson (former editor-in-chief of "The New York Times"), Jamal Joseph (filmmaker and ex-Black Panther) and Dani McClain (journalist and activist). Stanford-Professor Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht considers the speech from a more European perspective. The rhetorical highlight was the reference to the life story of 106 year old Ann Nixon Cooper. Her grandsons Albert B., Michael, Jeff Cooper and Lawrence Bobo (Professor for Social Sciences at Harvard University) remember that moment. Adam Frankel, member of the speechwriter-team delivers insight into the process of writing that speech. A film that follows words, asking the question: What was to become of these words?