Knock Down the House

There's a lot of 1 star reviews and 10 star reviews which indicate political bias, I gave 8 stars for which I'll explain. Being based in the UK I have no party preferences in the US, I don't have any in the UK as I don't believe in the vote.

This documentary looks at the grassroots movement that took place in 2018 to get ordinary working class people (women of colour) into power against those taking money from big pharma/lobbies etc who are supposedly not really in it for the people.

It mainly follows 4 women who are trying to get into Congress. We hear personal stories such as that of Amy Vilela, Cori Bush and Paula Jean Swearingen.

However, unless you've been living in a cave without internet, you've heard of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The newbie who is challenging Joe Crowley, unchallenged for 14 years and no one is expecting to be beaten.

It's the fact that AOC takes most of the screen time that those who oppose her views are giving 1 star reviews. Personally, I would say if you are after the journey it takes these women, in AOC's case a David v Goliath battle, you will enjoy this like I did.

To end politically, the reason why I don't vote is I don't believe that people are listened to, you have Brexit here in the UK and look at how the people were deceived by politicians to leave, now 2 years down the line, it's clear the Brexit we may well get is not the one we wanted. This is what happens when politicians stop serving for the people. In the USA, all sorts of money is donated to politicians for their campaigns, of course there is going to be reciprocal support when it comes to making laws, these will not favour the people but the corporations, the sooner this becomes more apparent, the better. No one should have to die because of the complexity of insurance and the profit driven motives of those corporations.

In politics hindsight is 20/20. This documentary naturally cannot escape this fact but it matters little, for here we are given the role of the fly on the wall, as we follow a class of challengers to the democratic machine. This entails a focus on the emotions of this journey, from the beginning where no one cares to the end whether in defeat or victory.

A focus on the tactics of organizing a movement, or any logic on the asymmetry of struggle against these powerful incumbents, gets overshadowed by that of the personality of the characters involved. This makes for an entertaining emotional drama but one is left hungry for more details on how a campaign is won. Or lost as is the case for many of the candidates.

Still this is a decent documentary worth your time if you're interested in the zeitgeist of our moment in time, but I doubt it will have staying power. It spends too much time talking to the wishes of the democratic underdog, and not enough on the work required to win. The most interesting exception to this is when Ocasio-Cortez goes through the reasoning behind hers and her opponents election flyers. This is when we get to see the intelligence behind the charisma. More of that please!

As for those who give this one or ten stars the less said the better.

Some of the reviews are saying that this is "downright propaganda" and filled with "radical leftist" etc. etc., and I, quite honestly, didn't see any of that. There were no propaganda at all in this documentary, no one said "This is what you should believe.", all they said was "This is what I believe.". That's why AOC won, she said what she believed in, what she wanted for the country, for the state, and what she could deliver. She also went house to house, street to street, to talk with people about it.

The documentary also featured other candidates, who unfortunately lost the election. They shared extremely personal stories that a lot of people can relate to, and I would lie if I said that I didn't tear up.

Hopefully there'll be a sequel to this documentary, because I really want an inside look in AOC's life, as well as the other newcomers, as they begin their new political careers in congress. One can only hope.

This excellent documentary showcases four women running for office in the 2018 election. We are now all familiar with AOC but at the time of shooting the film she was just a bartender from the Bronx. Fascinating to see her developing a political style and joining a movement to change the system. All the women in the film are amazing and make great representatives. We need them and others to make a difference!

I've never been a big fan of AOC, but this is an amazing window in the process faced by citizens trying to disrupt the establishment bias of congressional and senate elections. Brilliant documentary style and very down to earth compared to similar attempts. Doesn't focus heavily on the politics involved, significantly more on the process.

No matter who you vote for, this is a great watch.