Pete Souza was the official White House photographer for both the Reagan and Obama presidencies. In that role he had a silent, behind-the-scenes role, and his work spoke for itself. After Trump became president, Souza found himself troubled by the lack of respect being shown for the office of the President, as well as Trump's bullying and lies, and he began to speak out, starting with his Instagram account, where he began to post photos from the Obama years as a contrast to how Trump was behaving. This lead to his book Shade, and now his film The Way I See It.
The film slowly starts off taking us through his experiences in the Reagan years, establishing that while he did not agree with all of Reagan's policies and decisions, he still respected him as a decent man who loved his country and his wife, and was capable of empathy and compassion. Then we see him begin to cover Obama and become his official photographer, and the vast respect he had for another decent man. The contrast with the current president is so obvious it does not need to be pointed out, and mostly Souza does not even mention Trump or why he finds him so disturbing.
This is a beautiful reminder of when there was a decent, wise, intelligent man with humility and empathy in the While House, who could listen to conflicting points of view to make a better decision. It made me cry at times (usually when we saw Obama dealing with people affected by tragedy), and gave me hope that in a few months there will again be a decent person leading the United States.
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