The alarming documentary All In offers a possible preview of November’s election
Film Reviews Movie Review
Note: The writer of this review watched All In: The Fight For Democracy from home on a digital screener. Before making the decision to see it—or any other film—in a movie theater, please consider the health risks involved. Here’s an interview on the matter with scientific experts.
The agitprop documentary All In: The Fight For Democracy presents itself as an urgent dispatch from the frontlines of the voting wars. The movie is so up to date that its opening minutes include footage from the summer of 2020, referencing both the state primaries that have taken place during the COVID-19 pandemic and President Trump’s recent warnings that enforcing existing voting laws could be catastrophic to Republicans. The bulk of the story that directors Lisa Cortés and Liz Garbus are telling has its roots in the past 150 years of American history, from the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War to the dawn of the civil rights movement. But more than anything, All In is the story of the rise of Black, Latinx, Asian, indigenous, and young adult participation in American democracy—and of how the powers that be have scrambled to change the rules of the game to keep those blocs from winning.
The most persuasive voice in All In belongs to Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia gubernatorial candidate whose close 2018 loss to Brian Kemp—the man who was, at the time, in charge of the voting process in the state—raised a higher-than-usual state of alarm among those who’ve been tracking the recent decay in our democratic institutions. Abrams herself refused to concede that she’d lost, pointing to the myriad constitutionally questionable ways that Kemp made it easier for his supporters to vote and harder for hers, including reducing polling stations and auto-purging registration rolls. Much of All In’s final third—the film’s most gripping section—details how Abrams worked extra-hard to get out the vote, while all the most egregious voter-suppression tactics were brought to bear by her opponent.
Throughout, Cortés and Garbus use Abrams’ case as a frame, starting with a moment where Abrams discusses her personal experiences as a Black woman growing up in Georgia, seeing her credentials questioned and her opportunities curtailed. All In’s central argument is that the advances made during the civil rights movement are being rolled back across the country perhaps because, ironically, the narrative surrounding public figures like Abrams has changed. Successes like hers are now often held up—disingenuously, depending on who’s doing the holding—as an example of the end of systemic racism, not as an example of someone battling to overcome it.
The larger story All In tells about the difficult process of making American democracy more democratic is supported by archival footage, personal anecdotes, and a lot of dot-connecting between different recent national news stories, from the rise of local authoritarians like Sheriff Joe Arpaio to the multiple recent Supreme Court cases dealing with gerrymandering and ballot access. Cortés and Garbus draw a line between Jim Crow America, which has been the backdrop to so many feel-good stories of civil rights triumphs, and the America of today, which seems to be retreating rapidly to that past.
Frankly, All In would be better if it were less expansive. A more straightforward bio-doc about Abrams, with extended digressions about the larger history behind her voting rights activism, might’ve been more powerful. Instead, the absence of one clear narrative through-line makes the movie feel more like an aggregation of alarming incidents than the richer piece of contemporary journalism it should be. All In is still plenty effective, but it lags behind the likes of social media and late-night comedy shows, which have presented a lot of this same information in packages that are more emotional and entertaining.
That said, the film does have real resonance, even beyond its original intention of promoting voting and cautioning about voter suppression. This summer of unrest has been a reminder that the United States has for decades grappled with—and failed to resolve—questions about who really gets a voice in the grand democratic experiment. In All In, clips of President Lyndon Johnson in the mid-’60s calling for a reckoning with “the crippling legacy of bigotry” and right-wing pundit Ann Coulter just a few years ago calling for the return of Jim Crow voting restrictions is a reminder that no matter how far we’ve come, we can always turn back.
9 Comments
Vote in numbers too big to manipulate. Don’t just vote against Trump, vote for the candidate with the only realistic chance to unseat him. It’s literally the only chance we have.
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Didn’t they basically cheat Stacey Abrams and she desired not to contest it.She is a deeply untrustworthy figure, just willing to stick her tongue to anything to advance her ambition.
The only way Republicans ever lose an election is if they fuck with the bag. “Read my lips: No new taxes.” The 2008 crash. Ford presided over the worst economy since the Depression (I’m sure pardoning Nixon didn’t help). Other than that, their values line up perfectly with white america and the system is in place to empower them above all else.Trump has been able to convince his base that the stock market = the economy. That’s the poors sorted. And the rich have hardly ever been richer. So he’ll probably still pull this thing off.
The Republican con, for so many decades now, has been the “watch this hand over here!” tactic; make assurances to mid-to-low income households that they will enact measures to help them immediately, all while their actual moves hurt long-term. Promise less taxes? Cut gov’t oversight on corporations & their environmental impact. Bring back factories from overseas? Provide tax breaks that in turn are invested in automation. Are you anti-abortion? Make sure accessibility to clinics comes at a steep price. And this all happens while the Pelosis, Schumers, & Feinsteins claim that they’re “not gonna stoop to the Republican’s level!”, which just means the lowest-earning households swallows the impact, until the Democrats get in and don’t do enough to help anyone anyways. Free market, baby!!!Barf.
Meanwhile the Democrats have had, or in the process of trying to, block the Green Party from several state’s ballot this November because they believe in democracy so, so much.
Racism. Again. I hope many people recognize the propaganda is out of control. I’m a 33 white guy. We’re going to have a war someday, and who do you think you’re going to turn to when that day comes, and you know it will. People you trust, your neighbors, your friends, United States citizens. Could be 20 years from now. You think running race relations propaganda for an entire series of generations is some kind of profound spiritual/ethical/moral/historical topic that is going to bring people together? Nope. You know what will? Vote #Libertarian. That’s the party with a platform that the Red and Blue people wish they could sell but can never deliver on. Party of Freedom and Justice according to the Constitution. You know what? If there’s a #GoldRush in this country, do you think media or government officials will be prepared to control the ballot boxes? People not talking to each other about which of part of the legacy systems to vote on, but people voting on a responsible adult choice. My voice is deep, sober, direct. Stop building up the system that games us ALL. Why are we living here if we can’t decide our own lives?