While covering this year's edition of the Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF), it gives me the chance to catch some interesting and offbeat documentaries from around the world, some of them tackle subject matters that are of interest to me that I wouldn't expect to get the documentary treatment. Then there are those docs that when I first glance at their respective descriptions in the festival catalogue, my immediate reaction is "gotta see this!". “Electoral
Dysfunction” falls into the latter category.
This is a humorous, informative (and right now very relevant) look at how frustratingly imperfect the electoral system is in the United States. Political humorist (and correspondent for CBS News’ “Sunday Morning” program) Mo Rocca went on a four-year journey to discover how America votes, and the result is “Electoral Dysfunction”. With a style that’s influenced by controversial muck raking filmmaker Michael Moore, this documentary focuses on one of the 13,000 voting districts in the U.S. – in particular Jennings County in Indiana – during the 2008 presidential election from both the Democrat and Republican sides, and all the lengths their respective organizers go through to get people to the polls on election day. As well, it explained how some stringent measures prevent civic-minded citizens from exercising their right to vote, such as the Photo ID Law, which was dubbed as a “modern day poll tax”. It's amazing to discover how many voters in this district (not to mention the 32 other states that have this photo ID law in their books) -- and many of whom were dedicated voters every election day for years -- were turned away at the polls because they didn't possess the required photo ID that is prescribed in the law. Then they are instructed to go to the local Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) bureau to get a free photo driver's license (eventhough they never owned a car, let alone sit behind the wheel of one) in order to go back to the polls to cast their vote; however, if they don't have a valid photo ID at the DMV, they can't get that coveted driver's license. Talk about "Catch-22"!
Rocca, along with the film’s writers/producers/directors Mridu Chandra, David Deschamps, Leslie D. Farrell and Bennett Singer (pictured below), were in Montreal to attend the two screenings of the documentary during the festival (the first one, which I attended, was the final film that was shown at the NFB Cinema on St. Denis Street, before it closed down for good the following day thanks to federal government budget cuts) and explained that the film’s impetus was the 2000 presidential election was decided by the Supreme Court and gave Republican candidate George W. Bush the presidency over Democrat Al Gore.
The film has been shown at both the Democrat and Republican conventions (and will air on PBS on October 18), and they hope to have it available for high school and college students in order to open their eyes about the American electoral system and spark some dialogue amongst them about this sacred right to vote that’s not even mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. And with this year's presidential race between Obama and Romney becoming a tension-filled, tight race, "Electoral Dysfunction" should be required viewing by every eligible (and ineligible) voter in America to why casting that precious vote is important (oh, yes ... and how you can distinguish the difference between "voter" and "elector").
This is a humorous, informative (and right now very relevant) look at how frustratingly imperfect the electoral system is in the United States. Political humorist (and correspondent for CBS News’ “Sunday Morning” program) Mo Rocca went on a four-year journey to discover how America votes, and the result is “Electoral Dysfunction”. With a style that’s influenced by controversial muck raking filmmaker Michael Moore, this documentary focuses on one of the 13,000 voting districts in the U.S. – in particular Jennings County in Indiana – during the 2008 presidential election from both the Democrat and Republican sides, and all the lengths their respective organizers go through to get people to the polls on election day. As well, it explained how some stringent measures prevent civic-minded citizens from exercising their right to vote, such as the Photo ID Law, which was dubbed as a “modern day poll tax”. It's amazing to discover how many voters in this district (not to mention the 32 other states that have this photo ID law in their books) -- and many of whom were dedicated voters every election day for years -- were turned away at the polls because they didn't possess the required photo ID that is prescribed in the law. Then they are instructed to go to the local Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) bureau to get a free photo driver's license (eventhough they never owned a car, let alone sit behind the wheel of one) in order to go back to the polls to cast their vote; however, if they don't have a valid photo ID at the DMV, they can't get that coveted driver's license. Talk about "Catch-22"!
Rocca, along with the film’s writers/producers/directors Mridu Chandra, David Deschamps, Leslie D. Farrell and Bennett Singer (pictured below), were in Montreal to attend the two screenings of the documentary during the festival (the first one, which I attended, was the final film that was shown at the NFB Cinema on St. Denis Street, before it closed down for good the following day thanks to federal government budget cuts) and explained that the film’s impetus was the 2000 presidential election was decided by the Supreme Court and gave Republican candidate George W. Bush the presidency over Democrat Al Gore.
The film has been shown at both the Democrat and Republican conventions (and will air on PBS on October 18), and they hope to have it available for high school and college students in order to open their eyes about the American electoral system and spark some dialogue amongst them about this sacred right to vote that’s not even mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. And with this year's presidential race between Obama and Romney becoming a tension-filled, tight race, "Electoral Dysfunction" should be required viewing by every eligible (and ineligible) voter in America to why casting that precious vote is important (oh, yes ... and how you can distinguish the difference between "voter" and "elector").
This prompted Mocca to quip during the Q&A session that followed the screening: “Maybe we
have too much democracy in America!”
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