Rachel Lears’ Knock Down the House | 2019 Sundance Film Festival

Date:

Knock Down the House is a rousing documentary about the future of our country, guided by the emboldened voices of four progressive female congressional candidates in the 2018 primary. Chief among them is beacon-of-hope Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (aka AOC), who tells us, “For every 10 rejections you get one acceptance. And that’s how you win everything.” Her words resonate especially when the other three candidates—Amy Vilela, Cori Bush and Paula Jean Swearengin, each worthy of coverage in their own right—lose out to the old guard. Producers Sarah Olson, Robin Blotnic, and producer/director Rachel Lears achieve a mix of optimism and heartbreak by juxtaposing three unsuccessful campaigns with AOC’s DC-shaking victory.

Among the film’s most astonishing moments are AOC’s two “debates” with establishment bigwig Joe Crowley. In the first, Crowley doesn’t even show up, forcing the young candidate to debate against an underprepared local representative; both are pitiful displays of the insidious apathy — and lack of respect for women in general — that has infected our nation’s political system. By-and-far the most interesting ‘making-of’ doc at Sundance this year, Knock Down the House lived up to its title (Netflix landed the docu for a cool 10 million). When Representative Ocasio-Cortez herself skyped in after the movie for a Q&A, an interactive element was added to the already-unforgettable history of this far-from-over David-and Goliath struggle. You can check out the skype call below:

Dylan Kai Dempsey
Dylan Kai Dempsey
Dylan Kai Dempsey is a New York-based writer/filmmaker. His reviews have been published in Vanity Fair, Variety, No Film School, Nonfiction.fr and IONCINEMA.com. He’s also developing a graphic novel as well as his own award-winning pilot script, #Likes4Lucas. He began as a development intern at Bonafide Productions in L.A. and Rainmark Productions in London.

Share post:

NEWSLETTER SIGNUP

Popular

More like this
Related

Interview: Dea Kulumbegashvili – April

After making its debut at the Venice Film Festival...

Exclusive Trailer: The American Dream is Pure Fantasy in Nellie Kluz’s ‘The Dells’

Selected for showcases at the 2024 Visions du Réel,...

2025 Cannes: Directors’ Fortnight Section Say Oui to Nadav Lapid’s ‘Yes’

Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid was tipped as a last...

Puissant Paris: Huppert, Efira, Cassel, Niney & Adam Bessa Topline Asghar Farhadi’s ‘Parallel Tales’

Megawatt quintet Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Pierre...