Dan Slevin reviews a documentary about American politics that isn’t about Donald Trump, and isn’t depressing.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Knock Down the House – see if you can guess the result of her election. Photo: Netflix
Political campaign documentaries are like sports films and courtroom dramas – almost impossible to make un-dramatic. Drew, Maysles and Pennebaker wrote the first chapter of the modern campaign doco with Primary in 1960 which introduced the world to John F. Kennedy.
In the 90s, Pennebaker and his partner Chris Hegedus brought us The War Room about the pseudo-insurgent Clinton campaign. (Sometimes it feels like there are only three or four actual American documentarians, so often do the same names show up.)
Robert Altman made a mock-doc about a similar same topic, Tanner ’88, and Bob Roberts tried to put a human face on right-wing nationalism with a folk-singing candidate played by Tim Robbins.
If you can get decent access – and the 1999 local movie Campaign by Tony Sutorius is a great example – then the result will be riveting.
Originally focused on a growing movement of independently-minded progressive candidates for Congress, Knock Down the House filmmaker Rachel Lears managed to hit the gold standard when one of her subjects turned out to be the star quality Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. One of four left-leaning candidates in the film, standing in 2018 against incumbent Democrats, Ocasio-Cortez turns her local advantage, street smarts and telegenic appearance into a powerful movement for change in the Bronx. The other three women, Amy Villela (Las Vegas), Paula Jean Swearengin (West Virginia) and Cori Bush (Missouri) have much tougher fights but are no less inspiring.
Cori Bush (Missouri) and Amy Villela (Nevada), leading the agenda for change in Knock Down the House. Photo: Netflix
American politics is so messed up that overseas viewers will be staggered at the obstacles put in the way of these women, and of the old-fashioned graft and corruption that goes on. It’s almost as if the USA has never moved on from the “Big Boss”, Tammany Hall, “jobs for the boys”, ridiculously patriarchal model from the 19th century. The horrible cliché comes to life over and over again in this film.
There is hope. I thought back in 2016, when Trump surprised us all, that his election was the last gasp of an ancient unearned hierarchy that could see the inevitable demographic and social change coming and had decided one last time to push back – hard – but that the overthrow was inevitable. Knock Down the House shows us that change will eventually come. Give opportunities to working women and you will see a difference, no one can persuade me otherwise, but
Paula Jean Swearengin (West Virginia) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York) in Knock Down the House. Photo: Netflix
One beautiful moment in Knock Down the House: Ocasio-Cortez compares her election flyer with the glossy “Victoria’s Secret” pamphlet produced by her opposition, the long-term incumbent Congressman Joe Crowley. “This is the difference between an organiser and a strategist,” she says. Crowley’s marketing is all positioning and feeling – branding if you like. Hers was straightforward – with a direct call to action and a clear programme of beliefs to get excited by. Speaking as someone who believes that “strategy” and strategic” are among the two most useless non-words used in the world today, that was music to my ears.
Knock Down the House is rated 13+ and is streaming on Netflix.
