Film casting Palin as grudge holder screened at Toronto festival

Director Nick Broomfield's "Sarah Palin: You Betcha!", which is playing at the Toronto International Film Festival, offers a glimpse of the former Alaska governor from interviews with family, including her parents, and former friends and associates. It screened Friday for reporters ahead of its official festival premiere Sunday.

Palin comes across as a woman known for ruthlessly firing people and holding spiteful grudges, leaving many Alaskans worried to talk about her for fear of reprisals, whether from Palin or her supporters.

"I think that beneath the charisma, which she undoubtedly has, and her ability to engage with people, which she undoubtedly can do, there was a sense of fear about her vindictiveness," Broomfield said in an interview before the festival. "That she would go to the ends of the earth once you became an enemy to vilify you. Not to just fire you from a job but make you unemployable anywhere." (Continued below trailer)

Several former supporters say the phrase often used in Palin's circle was throwing people "under the bus."

Broomfield spent 10 weeks in the winter in Palin's hometown of Wasilla, where she was mayor before being electing governor and becoming Republican presidential contender John McCain's running mate in 2008.

In Alaska, Broomfield interviewed Palin's parents, along with supporters, former friends and longtime enemies. Palin appears in book signings and other public appearances, and the film gets its title from Palin's catch-phrase - "You betcha" - which she echoed when Broomfield asks her for an interview and she replies, "I'll betcha I could do that."

Palin never did give him an interview.

Broomfield, whose previous films include the musician portraits "Biggie and Tupac" and "Kurt and Courtney," said he approached Palin with an open mind, intending to make the film a diary of his findings "rather than going out to nail her."

"I think what you get is an unauthorized portrait of her from the people who know her best. Friends and family and colleagues," Broomfield said. "I think you get a very accurate portrait of her way of being and working."

It's not a flattering portrait. Former friends and colleagues say Palin is a master of engaging with people one-on-one but that once elected governor, she was disinterested in legislative business, spending her time in meetings texting on her Blackberrys.

Broomfield digs up footage of Palin playing high school basketball, competing in beauty pageants and muffing a TV sports report in college, when she aspired to a broadcasting career.

The film includes embarrassing moments of Palin as governor, too, among them a holiday newscast shortly after her and McCain's 2008 defeat in which Palin discusses the fun she had in a turkey-pardoning event, while other turkeys are being bloodily slaughtered right behind her.

Throughout the film, Broomfield persists in seeking an interview with Palin. He finally went to a Palin event with a question-and-answer session, where he shouted out to her, "Do you think your political career is over?"

After a swig from a water bottle, Palin gestured at her supportive crowd and said, "Ask these people."

The crowd cheered, and Broomfield was escorted out by security.

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