Knock Down the House Review: Political Doc Inspiring and Empowering
Synopsis courtesy of IMDb.com: “A look at the people involved with various political campaigns during the 2018 U.S. congressional election.” Knock Down the House premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT in January, where it was selected for the Festival Favorite Award.
Directed by: Rachel Lears (The Hand That Feeds)
Featuring: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, Paula Jean Swearengin, Amy Vilela
Written by: Rachel Lears, Robin Blotnick (The Hand That Feeds)
Knock Down the House is rated PG.
Photograph courtesy of Netflix
This may be an understatement, but politics has been pretty messy for the past couple of years. It can be easy, and is perhaps justifiable, to feel disgruntled, distanced, and angry no matter where you fall on the political spectrum. In the midst of such a political climate, a story humanizing the struggle of strong women underdogs as they take on establishments, industry, and tradition brings intimate hope, raw emotion, and empathy to Washington DC.
The most impressive element of Knock Down the House is the women it highlights. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, AMy Vilela, Cori Bush, and Paula Jean Swearengin become deeply acquainted with the audience through stories of the personal losses motivating their campaigns, long days calling uninterested constituents for donations and asking for signatures, and persisting hope in the face of a long battle. The documentary makes no efforts to mask the humanity of its protagonists and shows makeup application, cluttered kitchens, yard work, rejection, goofiness, and uncensored passion. In a world where women politicians can be damaged by showing anything short of perfection, it was especially refreshing to see something real. It made me love the characters even more.
The film additionally had great variations in emotion. It made me angry, amused, empowered, and sombered in just under an hour and a half. While still remaining mostly apolitical, it highlighted important and sometimes forgotten issues that were prevalent in the communities the women were fighting for. Though the ending for some of the candidates was devastating, the overall film was colored with hope. To paraphrase Ocasio-Cortez “100 of us have to try for 1 of us to make it,” and I was largely inspired by the film.
Although Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has become the biggest political figure, I wish that Vilela, Bush, and Swearengin had more coverage. At times it felt like a documentary just about Ocasio-Cortez with short, randomly placed clips of the other candidates scattered throughout the film. The other women had powerful stories that deserved more time. The night of their primaries felt especially rushed; Cori Bush had a scarce 30 seconds dedicated to the results of her campaign. Any documentary, especially a political one, is at risk to have general popular perception shift after the conclusion of filming, and in this case, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became a household name since filming began. Though her story is incredible, the emphasis the documentary placed on her left the film as a whole feeling unbalanced.
In all, Knock Down the House was an excellent documentary that was kairotic, inspiring, human, and fun to watch. The filmmakers did a great job capturing the personal investment and drive that goes into a political campaign. Though the unbalanced nature of its coverage made the timelines and some of the protagonists hard to follow, it was overall a fun film and a great story.
Reel Rating: 7/10
Knock Down the House is now streaming on Netflix.
