For the most part Mr. Barsky's film does just that. It is hardly an uncritical account of Mr. Koch's dozen years as mayor, but time has a way of turning the furious political battles of the past into amusing war stories, and of softening old enmities. Politicians, civic leaders and journalists who were thorns in Mr. Koch's side offer measured, even affectionate assessments of his administration, though some hard feelings persist, especially on matters of race.
Mr. Koch himself, now 88, seems to have mellowed very little. New York may be a safer, cleaner and less argumentative place than it was in the 1980s, but he remains as contentious, as mischievous and at times as inflammatory as ever. We see him campaigning for Andrew Cuomo, whose father, Mario, was Mr. Koch's rival in a bitter Democratic primary in 1977 and in the gubernatorial race five years later. We also hear him call the younger Cuomo "a schmuck" on election night and speak disparagingly of another Democrat, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.
In extensive interviews — conducted at his modest Manhattan apartment, in the back of chauffeured cars and even beside his own tombstone — Mr. Koch is happy to rehearse old grudges. Regrets and second thoughts, however, are not in his nature. Admitting that he "made a mistake" in closing Sydenham Hospital in Harlem during his first term — after promising, during the campaign, to keep it open — he goes on to say that he should have followed the example of his predecessors and given in to "terror," referring to pleas and residents' protests. "How am I doing?" Mr. Koch used to ask. It was always a rhetorical question.
It is also, almost a quarter-century after Mr. Koch was unseated by David Dinkins, a topic for historical debate. How did he do? The people interviewed in "Koch" whose names are not Koch — several of them former or current employees of The New York Times — offer a mixed, mostly positive verdict, and also flesh out a portrait of a complicated man in an era that is quickly fading in memory. Viewers who were around back then will be reminded of some painful episodes (as well as some funny moments), and those who have known only Republican (or independent) mayors and graffiti-proof subway cars will receive a brisk and informative tour of the city in what few would consider its Golden Age.
Though it spends time with Mr. Koch in the present and summarizes his premayoral life (some of it spent in Newark), "Koch" is above all a chronicle of New York civic life from 1977 to 1989. Mr. Koch, a reformist Democratic congressman from Greenwich Village, emerged from a crowded primary field to win the nomination at a low point in the fortunes of the city. Jonathan Mahler's 2005 book, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning," and Spike Lee's 1999 film, "Summer of Sam," provide vivid snapshots of this moment, and Mr. Barsky reminds us of the salient details: the recent fiscal crisis; the fear of a brazen serial killer and more mundane forms of crime; the blackout that seemed, in August 1977, like a foretaste of apocalypse.
Mr. Barsky's film makes a plausible argument that Mr. Koch started to bring the city back, a judgment that contemporary opinion — measured in the landslide victories of 1981 and 1985 and symbolized by a Time magazine cover and an Off Broadway musical — would seem to support. But even his successes were shadowed by the persistence of crime, poverty and a climate of racial hostility that he arguably made worse.
In an on-camera interview, Sam Roberts of The Times describes a "missing synapse" of empathy with the city's African-American population, though "Koch" does not pursue this theme as far as it might. The film includes the murder of Yusuf K. Hawkins in 1989, but it leaves out other episodes like the rape of a jogger in Central Park that same year and the subway vigilantism of Bernhard H. Goetz in 1984.
Mr. Koch's response to the AIDS epidemic — a source of anger and frustration for many gay New Yorkers who regarded him as an ally and perhaps more — receives attention as does the scandal, starting in the Parking Violations Bureau, that dented his reputation as an incorruptible reformer. Though the film describes Mr. Koch as a pioneer in the blend of fiscal conservatism and social liberalism that has defined many subsequent big-city mayors, he has a way of resisting ideological labels. He spent a lot of money on housing (perhaps his most enduring legacy) and was not above dabbling in the post-'60s politics of backlash and resentment.
Like Walt Whitman, another hard-to-classify embodiment of the spirit of New York, he is contradictory and multitudinous. The hour and a half Mr. Barsky provides might be enough time for a lesser figure. Mr. Koch — who I should note has dabbled in film criticism since leaving Gracie Mansion — needs more: a mini-series; a Dreiser novel (Tom Wolfe tried, sort of, in "The Bonfire of the Vanities"); a sprawling epic combining the talents of Sidney Lumet, Woody Allen, Bob Fosse and Spike Lee. He is charming, infuriating and sometimes coy (especially about his sexuality, which he continues to insist is nobody's business). He can be exhausting, even in small doses, but he has never been boring. Post-Koch New York is duller than it used to be, which is probably both a disappointment and a relief.
Koch
Opens on Friday in Manhattan.
Directed by Neil Barsky; director of photography, Tom Hurwitz; edited by Juliet Weber; music by Mark degli Antoni; produced by Jenny Carchman; released by Zeitgeist Films. Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes. This film is not rated.
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