Film Creator Stephen Bannon: "Fire From the Heartland" Was Inspired By Sarah Palin

By Gary P Jackson

Not long after I hit "publish" on the story about Citizens United's attempt to pump up Michele Bachmann in Iowa by repackaging the movie Fire From The Heartland, from a movie about conservative women, to a movie about [and "starring"] Michele Bachmann, I got a couple of notes reminding me about the original interviews with the film's creator Stephen Bannon.

At the time, Bannon was quite clear Sarah Palin was the inspiration for the movie. In hindsight, it seems making this movie is what lit a fire in Bannon's belly to create The Undefeated, a movie that is causing quite a stir nationwide.In fact, Bannon credits Sarah Palin for igniting this fire and inspiring women to get involved.

From Fox News:

Documentarian Stephen Bannon has made a film called "Fire From the Heartland" which chronicles the stories of several women important to the conservative movement.

"No one had ever touched the topic, and in addition, we did it in a way that let the women speak for themselves," Bannon told Pop Tarts. "I wanted to pick a cross-section of women who would be emblematic – congresswomen, known commentators, and a cross section of Tea Party activists."

The inspiration for the film came to Bannon, who previously produced "Generation Zero," when Sarah Palin emerged on the national political scene as John McCain's vice presidential running mate scene in 2008.

"I noticed there is a new generation of young, female activists who are at the forefront of this rebellion who are inspired by Sarah Palin. I wanted to tell their stories and I wanted to do it in a way that could be linked back to the founders of the country – Abigail Adams, the pioneer women, the frontier women, Clare Boothe Luce, Phyllis Schlafly," Bannon said. "If you look at the conservative rebellion, it is women that are at the vanguard – not men, and that has never happened before in this country."

"Fire From the Heartland" features several key female Republican figures, from congresswoman Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Jean Schmidt of Ohio, to prominent political voices Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin. But Bannon credits Palin for "re-awakening" the conservative female movement in the United States, and standing tall against what he calls personal attacks brought on by the entertainment community and liberal media.

"Hollywood does not understand Middle America and it certainly does not understand, and in fact, despises, the core values of the country. The elite of Hollywood hold it in tremendous disregard. I could not think higher Governor Palin, she is a force of nature and has inspired a generation of women to really get actively involved in politics and more importantly, take their culture back and take their country back," he said. "I’ve seen it across the country. These women are incredibly inspired, and were not really politically engaged until Sarah Palin came on the scene."

"Fire From the Heartland" was made without Palin’s involvement, but Bannon hopes she makes her way to a screening over the coming weeks.

"We made this totally independently of any influence so we could tell our story, but I think Governor Palin would love the film, hopefully we’ll get to show it to her," Bannon said.

Looking at this year's midterm elections, Bannon predicted Republican gains, but said no real change can come until the Presidential election of 2012.

"I think (Obama) is going down the path of destroying the Democratic Party because he has driven out the moderates, and we're going to have a huge wave of enthusiasm that brings conservatives back in to at least share power," he said. "But if anybody thinks that November 2nd is going to change things, they're fooling themselves. It's going to be a nasty, nasty two years until the Presidential election of 2012, because right now, all we're trying to do is really stop his administration in its tracks. We haven't even begun the types of cuts we have to make in federal spending, the types of restructuring we have to do with the federal budget, what we have to do to rebuild our manufacturing base, are so large that people don't realize what's in front of them."

From Bannon's interview it's clear who inspired him to make this film, and who, in Bannon's opinion, has awakened Conservative women, and inspired them to get involved.

Now I know to some all of this may seem petty, and let me once again state that we haven't found evidence of Bachmann or her team promoting this as a film about her, but what Citizen's United is doing is not only dishonest, it's a slap in the face to everyone featured in this great film.

Citizens United is trying to create the impression this is a brand new film about Bachmann, when in fact, it was created last year. We're not sure if their motivation is to help Bachmann win Iowa, or simply latch on to her as a way of raising money for their own cause, but does it matter?

Even though Sarah Palin was the inspiration, I'm sure she would be the first to say she wasn't the "star" of this movie at all. Instead she's point to the strong women featured in the movie: Ann Coulter, Michelle Easton, Michelle Malkin, Deneen Borelli, Janine Turner, Dana Loesch, S.E Cupp, Jenny Beth Martin, Jamie Radtke, Sonnie Johnson, Jean Schmidt, Cynthia Lummis, and Michelle Moore.

Sarah Palin would be celebrating all of the strong Conservative women who are making a difference on a daily basis.