One On One With Oliver North

Watergate ...Contragate...If we have another "-gate" in our political future we can bank on two things: the major architects) of the cover-up will 1) write a best-selling book and 2) re-discover their faith in the Lord. This interview with the retired Colonel conducted before a studio audience by Bill Hybels, pastor of the Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL, aims to "probe the spiritual dimensions of Oliver North." Using North's autobiography Under Fire as his syllabus, Hybels goes for a "this is your life, Ollie North" approach-feeding stories he read in North's book to North to elaborate on. Not what you'd call aggressive interviewing, but more like handoffs in football. North recounts his separation from his wife and their reunion after seeking help from God in prayer, and the media circus that we came to call Contragate. Throughout, North has a constant battery of standardized quips (he's had plenty of time and lecture circuit opportunity to hone his material-at least to the point where he comes across as a bad comic), and trots out one self-deprecating joke after another, and then clutches his Bible a little closer when making a particularly spiritual point. Very watchable (especially so, considering that people nationwide sat tuned to hours of boilerplate just to hear a few words from North for weeks on end), One on One With Oliver North will be a popular video that will also do little to change people's minds about North one way or the other. Those who think he's a tragic man caught up in the system will continue to think so; and those who think that he's a Nixon-like weasel and are not fooled by his whipped puppy look will continue to think so too. Either way the whole thing is not much deeper than an Arsenio chat so it's value as a biographical documentary is questionable. An optional purchase. (See the QUIGLEY'S VILLAGE series for availability.)