Anytown, USA

Anytown U.S.A. (by Alan Campbell for the JEDSEY JOURNAL 06-I)

Yes the candidate's a dodger, yes a well known dodger, - Yes the candidate's a dodger, yes and I'm a dodger too.

He'll meet you and treat you and ask you for your vote, - But look out boys he's a dodgin' for a note,

Yes we're all dodgin', a dodgin', dodgin', dodgin', - Yes we're all dodgin' out away through the world.

(A song popular with western farmers after the Civil War)

There's that tale about Hollywood and politics where the movie mogul Jack Warner first hears that one of his old studio actors is running for governor. "No, no, not Ron Reagan for governor. Jimmy Stewart for governor. Ronald Reagan for best friend." That's not only about the typecasting of actors, but about the way Hollywood has caused people to look at reality through the camera lens. The actual candidates for high office don't measure up to the likes of Jimmy Stewart, Robert Redford or John Travolta but they work hard to come as close to the ideal as a talented, good-looking dodger can, and hope the public will give them the nod in spite of their shortcomings.

"Anytown U.S.A." is a documentary about small-town politics and doesn't cast any actors, so it can't match the Hollywood standard as it takes you through the 2003 campaign for the Mayor of Bogota, NJ. But as you watch the three candidates on camera, you might ask yourself whether even great movie stars with big money behind the show could give the same sense of realism. There's something very real about real people. Could any ensemble of actors produce something this real?

And there are things real life dares to do that Hollywood wouldn't. Would the pros approve a script where the three candidates share four serious health problems, (blindness being the mildest condition)? Would you kill off a candidate soon after he gives his all? Is it too corny for the school football team to have a great year after a bad start?

When the leaves start turning color and falling, it's the season for the people to choose the leaders who will serve them. There's a natural drama to the story, but without the editing it wouldn't come out at you. You can imagine that the crew had quite a bit of fun shooting the campaign, but the really heavy work and artistic skill was in cutting down a vast amount of footage to tell the story briskly. It's a good story, a real story, and the way it's told (without contrivances or hoked up crises) it might even go some way to reinforce your faith in democracy.

The film was great! It was very interesting to see the nuts and bolts of an actual campaign operation clearly explained. I've worked on a number of local campaigns in Jersey City, New Jersey (not far from where the film's story took place) and on a gubernatorial campaign (both the primary and the general election). This was the first time I saw a realistic film treatment of an election.

The technique of images in a news story becoming animated was really great. It was as if I was stepping into the story.

Towards the bottom of this Page:

http://www.njreporter.com/onlygameintown/onlygameintown10051.shtml

see the video of see New Jersey Political Scientist David Rebovich's comments on Lonegan.

This is a remarkable documentary. Think of a mix between "The War Room" and "Roger & Me." The characters we meet are so extraordinary that it would be hard to make them up. We are used to seeing statewide and national hardball politics, but at the municipal level all the slickness and professionalism is gone and rank self-interest rules.

The film is well directed and the pace of the story keeps moving you along.

Underneath the gritty story of local politics, there is a heartbreaking story that gives the film an emotional impact far beyond the purely political. Absolutely worth finding this film and seeing it. Go find it!

I laughed, I cried. This film lacks state-of-the-art technical values but doesn't need them. It reminded me of an early Spike Lee or Kevin Smith work - the first few minutes seem like an unpolished video, and without any apparent transition you are drawn in to an incredibly compelling story. Kristian Fraga shows the dirt of a local political campaign without taking sides and carries the suspense right to the end. Can a write-in candidate compete with the two major parties? With a popular incumbent running for re-election? How about if he gets the brains behind Jesse Ventura's successful bid as an independent? Will that work? Tip O'Neill said "All politics is local" but seeing this play-by-play rerun of a local mayoral election proves just how right he was. Go see it while you can - it won't be in theaters long.

I wouldn't rank Anytown USA with the all-time great documentaries, but I know not only will I watch this again when it comes out on DVD, I'll likely buy it. For myself, going slightly past the film criticism for a moment, there is initial interest right off the bat with the location of the film. Bogota, New Jersey, is literally the town next over to mine (they even say Teaneck a couple of times in the film; the high school in their town is literally what makes my street a Dead-End), and while I have walked or driven through it countless times, I really only had a vague idea of who the people in the town were before the film. I have no friends from the town, and my only real conception of them (this is before the film) is that the cops love to give out tickets (in such a small town, what can you do with your spare time). Seeing the film, and seeing the townsfolk and those running for its Mayoral office (aka the 'Bogotian's', a name I laughed at when I first heard), I get a whole other picture.

Once getting over the initial feeling of 'ah, places I know up on the screen, and directed by a local no less', settling into the film is no trouble. The filmmakers have here crafted a work a little in the tradition of Michael Moore- totally for the entertainment value, very funny a lot of times, some heart put in for good measure- though this time the politics of the main subjects are kept a little vague at times (though if you know who Steve Lonegan is outside of what's shown here you'll know what to expect). The film is sort of divided up among its three subjects- the Republican incumbent (Lonegan), the democratic hopeful (Fred Pesce), and the wild-card, who (like Lonegan oddly enough) is legally blind, Dave Musikant. We see how they're campaigns take off, how the cards are stacked against the under-dogs, but how they fight back by way of the people.

The Bogotians (also the name of the town newsletter, often with propaganda by Lonegan's campaign people) get to know the candidates they don't, and of course have initial frustration with the incumbent. There's some nasty humor from Lonegan's side, some aloof-ness by way of the pleasant but poorly navigated Pesce, and as a main component to the film, the quirky, bittersweet saga of Musikant as a write-in candidate with the odds very much against him. But that the film shows all three's trials and tribulations in the couple of months up to the election with such a variety and timing is rather remarkable. It's a little too slick for its own good at times, yet the people are the ones that come through, either by way of cheering them on, laughing at them (or with them even), and soaking up the small-town pathos (and believe you-me, Bogota is a small town).

I do recommend the film to people who may have never even been to the east coast much less New Jersey or Bogota, because the filmmaker(s) are smart in not showing too much (oddly enough I never quite figured out what Musikant's politics were, except against Lonegan's stalwart incompetence and Pesce's shortcomings). And at the same time, in some ways, the film is even more of a comedy (perhaps unintentionally, or not) than a serious look at an election cycle coming to a climax. For one who has been alongside the Bogotians all his life, this film holds even more resonance, and taken aside from that perspective, it's still quite a little nifty look at the slings and arrows of local NJ power. As it seems though, many may have to wait for DVD, if at all, as it only got the most limited release in New Jersey (oddly enough at the Teaneck movie theater, where Bogota residents could walk half a mile to see it)