KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE: A Celebration Of Working Class Heroes

When newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary for New York’s 14th congressional district, it was considered one of the biggest upsets of the 2018 election season. Months later, she became the youngest woman to serve in the United States Congress. But how did she do it?

Knock Down The House, directed by Rachel Lears, follows the primary campaigns of four political outsiders; Ocasio-Cortez, Paula Jean Swearengin (West Virginia), Cori Bush (Missouri), and Amy Vilela (Nevada). All four women run grassroots campaigns, refusing to take money from big corporations and relying on a community effort to take down the establishment.

AOC: A Star Is Born

While Ocasio-Cortezis not the only person highlighted in the film, she really is the star of it. Her story, which often intertwines with the other women’s, is the main focus. That isn’t surprising, considering how popular she has become in her first few months as a congresswoman. We watch her struggle to convince Crowley die-hards that she is serious, we see him belittle her in debates, and we see her personal anxieties that we don’t normally see nowadays when she articulates her political ideas. Although now she is one of the most outspoken members of Congress, Lears shows us how insecure she can be. But she also shows us why she won. At one point, Ocasio-Cortez compares her pamphlet to Crowley’s; hers very clearly lays out her views, while his brags about how he’s “taking down Trump” without really saying what he believes.

Lears does a great job in telling Ocasio-Cortez’s non-political story, as well. The story of the loss of her father at a young age, use of home movies, and showing her love of family all humanize the person we, as the general public, think we know based on our choice of news outlet. At times, it did feel like the focus on Ocasio-Cortez was taking away from the others, but since she is the one of the four that ended up winning, it makes sense to frame the film around her. We’re lucky that Lears decided to capture her story, because it’s incredibly inspiring and lightening in a bottle.

Working Class Heroes

The through-line of the film is the idea of putting power back into the hands of the working class. Swearengin and Bush are driven by their frustration with the establishment. At one point Swearengin even ends a speech with, “I am running for U.S. Senate, and I’m mad as hell.” I found Vilela’s story to be incredibly emotional and engaging. She suffered a personal tragedy due to her lack of health insurance, which is what prompted her to get into politics. Her small campaign HQ in a strip mall and plucky campaign staff (we see one juggle a soccer ball while on the phone with a potential donor) pushes that underdog quality further and really makes you root for Vilela, and makes her loss even more heartbreaking.

Lears was inspired to make this film after seeing the reactions to the election of Donald Trump. She reached out to organizations like Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats, that work to find people that fall in line with their political platform whose campaigns they can run. In researching, I learned that these organizations were founded by former staffers for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. They connected her with the four women featured in the film.

We see some of the staff of the organizations, but we never spend too much time with them, which is a bit of a missed opportunity. It would’ve been great to have seen the process of choosing the people they’re going to support (we do briefly see them take a vote). Various staff members show up around several of the candidates, but I would’ve liked to have seen the specific relationships between the candidates and the organizations.

As a documentary, the movie is nothing flashy or original. The music is your classic emotionally manipulative documentary score, which could have been toned down a bit. The subject matter speaks for itself. There were also some time jumps that made things confusing that may have been fixed with different editing.

Knock Down The House: Conclusion

Not only does Knock Down The House highlight four political pioneers, but it also provides a snapshot of a post-2016 election America that will be interesting to look back at in a few years. Even if your views don’t align with the women in the film, there is something to be admired in all of them. The film will make you consider if you could take on your district’s most popular politician. As Ocasio-Cortezsays, “For one of us to make it through, 100 of us have to try.”

What did you think of Knock Down The House? Let us know in the comments!

Knock Down The House was released on Netflix on May 1.