Street Fight | DVD Review

Guerilla filmmaking meets guerilla politics in Marshall Curry’s Street Fight. Curry’s intuitive editing and bold initiative brings “rough and tumble” political games to the forefront in a way that will have you riveted and cheering for the underdog.

The film merges the intensive styling of 1960’s Primary with the gripping drama of 1993’s The War Room. Curry shows the American political front more akin to the urban warfare of door-to-door combat. In the tradition of High School, Curry attempts to allow the camera to tell the story of a mayoral race that eventually garnered national attention granting the audience a “fly on the wall” perspective for the events unfolding before the lens. Curry’s simple and emotional narration adds to the underlying tension of the campaign. Chronicling tactics that ranged from voter intimidation, charges of terrorism, a Watergate-style burglary to racial and sexual elements, the campaign often resembled the charge of a dictatorship rather than the wheels of democracy.

The film represents Marshall Curry’s first venture into feature length production. Street Fight garnered the young filmmaker an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature as well as three Audience Awards at the Tribeca, Hot Docs and SilverDocs film festivals. The film also was awarded the Jury Prize at Hot Docs for the Best International Documentary in 2006.

Street Fight follows the first campaign of 32 year old Cory Booker, a Yale educated African American whose grass roots attempts to oust 66 year old James Sharpe from his 16 year run as Mayor of Newark, New Jersey; a medium sized city about 15 miles south of Long Island bring out the seedier side of political races. As Booker gains popularity and ground in the election, Sharpe’s tactics become more and more guerilla like. Booker’s attempts to maintain a clean campaign based on issues and the power hungry political machine that he is up against undermines facts. The incumbent mayor utilizes city workers to intimidate voters and campaign workers alike, even going so far as to close down businesses that post Booker’s campaign materials. Sharpe even goes so far as to bring up race and partisanship as issues in the election, an interesting tactic considering both candidates are African American and Democrat. The issue ultimately becomes a crisis of identity as voters are forced to confront the issue of who they are, and where they stand.

The DVD release brings to light the flaws in the democratic process in America, and creates an accessible and useful tool for political scientists, campaign organizers, even voters at large. Anyone with a vested interest in the freedoms and processes of the election process in this country will find Street Fight a riveting and informative excursion into the seedy, often frightening, underbelly of the democratic machine. The DVD is scarce on special features; however, the interview with Curry is enlightening as to his motives and processes in developing the project.

Marshall Curry presents to his audience a rarely seen, often frightening, picture of the tactics used to gain, and maintain power in America. The film shows that the old techniques of stomping the pavement and knocking on doors, is still just as powerful a tool as all the media available. The film is a must have for anyone who has ever voted for, or complained about, politicians in the United States.

Movie rating – 4

Disc Rating – 3.5