"John Lewis: Good Trouble" (2020 release; 96 min.) is a documentary about the life and times of US Congressman and longtime civil rights activist John Lewis. As the movie opens, Lewis addresses the camera head-on: "There are forces today that are trying to take us back in time" (referring to the blatant voter-suppression agenda of the Trump administration). We then see Lewis walking towards Capitol Hill as others comment about him. "He's effective because he's lived it", observes Alexandria Ocadio-Cortez. We then switch to Selma, Alabama, 1965, where Lewis is part of the peaceful march... At this point we are 10 min. into the movie.
Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from writer-director Dawn Porter ("Trapped"). Here she looks back at 60 years of social justice and civil rights activism of John Lewis. The documentary covers his upbringing in rural Troy, AL all the way to his ongoing work today in the US Congress after his stunning upset victory over Julian Bond in 1986. Let's be clear: Lewis is a giant in the field of championing the voting rights of Black Americans, always reminding people to not just register to vote, but then to actually vote. For me the documentary is most remarkable for the plenty of archival footage that Porter and her team were able to unearth. There is of course some well-known footage (such as of the Selma march in 1965, still shocking now 55 years later when you see the unprovoked police brutality against the peaceful demonstrators), but also lots of rarely if not unseen footage of the young Lewis who apparently is everywhere during the years of civil rights activism. Check out the footage of the Nashville sit-in, and how the peaceful activists are treated... A good chunk of the film also looks at the 2018 election cycle, and what role systemic voter repression surely played in the Georgia governor's race (does anyone really doubt that Stacey Abrams in fact was robbed?). Along the way, Lewis keeps reminding us: "Get into trouble. Good trouble."
"John Lewis: Good Trouble" opened this weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati, its second week of reopening in the COVID-19 era. My temperature was taken before I even entered the theater, and of course wearing a mask and keeping social distancing were required as well. Every other row in the theater was blocked off as well. Not that it mattered as the Friday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended by exactly 2 people, including myself. If you have any interest in the 1960s civil rights era or what is happening to this very day with voter repression left and right, I'd readily suggest you check out"John Lewis: Good Trouble", and draw your own conclusion.
