So, you’ve voted. Or maybe you intend to go later, or not at all. What to do in the meantime? What do you do while waiting for the results to pour in? You could channel-hop election coverage but why not check out the rise of 2018 US midterm hopefuls, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, Paula Jean Swearengin Amy and Vilela, in the inspiring Netflix Documentary, Knock Down The House.
What started off as a documentary, shot on a shoestring and tracking the campaign of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, then an unknown Democratic Party 2018 contender for New York’s 14thcongressional district, ended up capturing history in the making.
Ocasio-Cortez went on to defeat 10-term Democratic Party incumbent Congressman Joe Crowley. It was a spectacular victory for a growing brand of grassroots, working people’s power and activism pitted against big money, vested interests and entrenched political habit.
While Rachel Lears’ documentary Knock Down The House, now on Netflix, began with Ocasio-Cortez as its focus, it soon expanded to include St Louis contender, nurse, Cori Bush, West Virginia’s Jean Swearengin and Nevada’s Amy Vilela, who opted for politics when her daughter Shalynne died from a treatable aneurism “at the hands of our profit-driven healthcare system”.
The documentary offers an insight into the tensions and concerns in an age of Trump and the failure of establishment politics. If you like your politics authentic, give it a watch. DM
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