Mandelson: The Real PM? (DVD) – Is Peter the Prince of Darkness or a political genius?

Is Peter Mandelson the Prince Of Darkness? A political genius? A fighter who’ll never give up? An over-privileged poser whose ideas have been warped by too long in the Westminster Village? Mandelson: The Real PM attempts to get under the man’s skin, with director Hannah Rothschild getting exclusive access to follow him in the run up to the last general election and just beyond.

At the time he was First Secretary Of State and Business Secretary, but as a Lord he was unelected and therefore a rather divisive figure in Gordon Brown’s cabinet. But then, there’s hardly been a time when Mandelson hasn’t been a divisive figure for one reason or another, from being one of the main architects of New Labour, to his run ins with the media and being ousted from the cabinet twice due to scandals.

If the documentary has one failure, it’s that it fails to really get to the heart of what Mandelson was actually doing during the time it was shot. This is presumably because the cameras didn’t have access to some of the more sensitive parts of Mandy’s jobs, and by not using a lot of voiceover you’re left looking at the man in his quieter and often more solitary moments. You do half get the impression he spent all his time in low level meetings, reading newspapers or napping in armchairs, but of course that’s because that’s when they got to film him.

While it might have been nice if they could have gone inside the Cabinet Office and seen the arguments and machinations amongst the Labour big hitters, by concentrating on the quieter moments, The Real PM does give a rather different and more intimate portrait of the man.

By the end I can’t say I 100% understood Mandelson, but nevertheless it gets you much closer to the man and what makes him tick. As for the questions that opened this review, there’s truth to them all of them, but the most intriguing thing – as it is with many people – is Mandelson’s difficulty in seeing himself. He talks about how he should have handled things and how he thinks others see him, but there’s a blind spot when it comes to his own weaknesses, made all the more fascinating by how incisive he is about many other things. It’s also intriguing how he sees everything about the media as a conspiracy and an attempt to destroy politics and politicians, while unable to see that exactly how he views the media is how he blames the media for viewing him.

You also get the impression that no matter what he says – and the fact that he was in charge of Labour’s election campaign – he seems in the documentary almost resigned to the fact the party is going to lose. You can’t help but feel he almost feels they deserve to be defated, as despite his protestations to the opposite, he doesn’t appear to be a fan of Gordon Brown’s leadership. Maybe it’s just the way he comes across, but his heart doesn’t really seem to be in it, and half his mind is already on what he’ll do after leaving government – as well as his legacy, of which this film is part.

The title of the documentary is of course a play on words over whether ‘The Real PM’ means Prime Minister or Peter Mandelson – but despite him often being referred to as the power behind the throne, here he doesn’t seem as interested in running the country as he does in getting his point across. He talks of loving power, but you get the impression pulling the strings in a Labour government has lost its allure for him – he actually seems a little battered by his experiences and ready for something different.

Mandelson is undoubtedly a fascinating figure, and if you are interested in him, the DVD offers some extended and deleted scenes that are well worth a look. Indeed it’s odd some of them weren’t included in the main feature, as they manage to flesh out aspects of the main documentary that seem slightly underexplored, such as looking at the people who are part of Mandelson’s retinue.

Overall Verdict: The Real PM may not answer many questions, but it certainly gets you close to one of Britain’s most fascinating political figures during a tumultuous time in his life and career.

Special Features:
Extended and Deleted Scenes

Reviewer: Tim Isaac