ALL IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY – Review

Voting is central to a democracy, or a democratic republic. The more all citizens are able to vote, the greater the chance the government reflects the will of the people. The timely documentary ALL IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY focuses on rising concerns about voter suppression, but also presents a fascinating overview of the right to vote in this country.

Timely indeed, with a looming election that promises to be one of the most contentious ever. In this well-crafted documentary, directors Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortes alternate between throwing a spotlight on contemporary voter suppression efforts and sections that look at the history of the right to vote in this country. These sections are lively and informative glimpses of history, featuring plenty of “I didn’t know that” moments along with reminders other aspects of history that bring the topic into focus. Along with all the historical facts are sprinkled moving personal stories from the eras.

This history of voting ranges from tidbits like when the country was first founded, only white men who owned property were allowed to vote, a mere six percent of the population. Using a mix of archival stills and footage, newspaper headlines and telling illustrations, and dignified animation sequences, it covers the fight for voting rights for Blacks, women and Native Americans. It covers the expansion of voting, and the number of elected officials, among Blacks in Reconstruction and its contraction in the Jim Crow era that followed, then the women’s suffrage movement, and the Civil Rights era. The documentary covers, in engrossing fashion, the various tactics used to limit voting, poll taxes and “literacy tests,” and direct violence like the KKK and lynching. The documentary gives a particularly telling look at the “literacy test,” which was not a test of reading ability as it sounds, but a test of often arcane knowledge of state government, a test so difficult that a law professor featured in the documentary notes that his third year law students could not pass it.

In the contemporary sections, the documentary features an array of experts speaking on camera. One prominently featured is Stacey Abrams, who lost a close election for governor of Georgia amid a new voter ID law. Abrams is featured, along with a host of other political experts and academics in a section follows voter registration drives, including among Latinx communities, while also looking at the myriad ways, often innocent sounding, that voters can be blocked from the ballot box. As an example, the documentary highlights how older African Americans in the South, who have voted for years, can suddenly be blocked from voting by requiring a birth certificate, something that many lack if they were born in the Jim Crow era when they were excluded from whites-only hospitals. Other topics that impact voting, such as gerrymandering, are touched on as well.

The right to vote is a fundamental one but one can be vulnerable to attack, as this excellent documentary illustrates so well. The documentary also pairs with a non-partisan effort by Amazon to promote voting, #ALLINFORVOTING. The documentary ALL IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY is a technically-polished, effectively spot-on look at the history and current state of voting rights, making it a must-see in this critical time. ALL IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY is available to stream on Amazon Prime and in selected theaters in selected markets.

RATING: 3 1/2 out of 4 stars