Why would the president of the United States want to spend the hottest month of the summer in a tiny town in the middle of Texas? When asked, many residents of Crawford, TX are baffled; surely Hawaii would make for a nicer vacation spot. High school teacher Misti Turbeville isn’t mystified, however; when George W. Bush purchased his Crawford ranch while gearing up for his presidential run, it was clear to her that some image-making was on the agenda. The candidate needed a home besides the governor’s mansion in Austin, Texas, just a few short blocks from the Paramount Theater where David Modigliani’s immersive documentary Crawford premiered on Saturday.

No one ever heard of Crawford before the year 2000, and that’s just the way most of the 700 or so residents liked it. In the years since, they have seen media hordes descend on their town in the wake of the Florida election fiasco, souvenir shops crop up along main street, and protesters and counter-protesters swarm and multiply along every roadside. Crawford is about the townspeople, and the effect the “Western White House” has had on their lives.

Some, like conservative shop owner Norma Nelson-Crow, are thrilled to share their hometown with the president. Others, like Turbeville and her student Tom Warlick, grow increasingly disgruntled, particularly in the wake of 9-11 and the ensuing war in Iraq. Once Cindy Sheehan arrives in town and establishes Camp Casey, a haven for war protesters on the outskirts of Bush’s property, many longtime Crawford residents have had enough of tourists and outsiders.

Crawford is about people as much as it is about politics – it wouldn’t be half as interesting without character like folksy rancher Pug Meyers and alienated teen Warlick, who hardly seem like they inhabit the same planet, let alone the same one-light town. It’s also about media complicity in Bush’s myth-making; the townspeople are bemused to see all of the network news correspondents setting up in front of the same ramshackle shed and bale of hay, all the better to enhance the president’s cowboy image. In the end, there’s one thing Bush’s supporters and detractors all seem to agree on: they’ll be happy when it’s over and life gets back to normal.