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The Bargain Nexus - Street Fight: A Film by Marshall Curry
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List Price: $24.95
Our Price: $9.69
Your Save: $ 15.26 ( 61% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Netflix
Starring: Marshall Curry
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: WELLSPRING/GENIUS
EAN: 0796019796439
Format: Closed-captioned
Label: Netflix
Manufacturer: Netflix
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Netflix
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2007-01-09
Running Time: 81
Studio: Netflix
Theatrical Release Date: 2005
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A mind-blowing analysis of American Democracy, Media corruption, Black neuroses, and the first Obama
Comment: One would think that a documentary about the 2002 mayoral race in Newark, New Jersey could have no relevance for anyone beyond history buffs in these final months of 2008. As a native New Yorker, I thought it had little relevance when I first heard about it being filmed in 2005, and continued to ignore it when it was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary a year later. I was wrong then, and remained wrong up until moments ago, where I watched it via Netflix. Schopenhauer, the patron saint of Nietzsche, once said that there are three stages of an emerging truth. First, it is ignored. Second, it is violently opposed. And third, it is accepted as self-evident. If my willful ignorance of STREET FIGHT can be considered the symbolic first step regarding the emerging cultural truth it represents, and the first 100 days of President-elect Barack Hussein Obama can be considered the oncoming self-evident third, the story of Cory Booker--the local Obama before the national Obama came to be--as rendered in this magnificent documentary can be seen as the middle, violently opposed second step bridge to today's political epoch. Also, it may be seen as the clearest window to the change America needs--on all levels of government.
Cory Booker was an African-American child of highly educated, Civil Rights veterans, both of whom singlehandedly integrated the suburban town in New Jersey in which he was born and raised. He was raised, in that context, with a powerful sense of both pride and duty--of and to his people, his family, his mind, and his own destiny--all of which demanded he make good on the promise of his greatness. He attended Ivy League schools upon graduating high school; received a bachelor's degree from Stanford and his law degree (like Al Gore, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton) from Yale. His sense of duty, however, to the African-American people of New Jersey demanded he choose a path of public service. That led him first to the city council, and, subsequently, to the Democratic race for mayor against the long standing Democratic incumbent Sharpe James: a first generation child of the movement; a contemporary of Booker's parents; the Black mayor of Newark for sixteen years.
If this documentary were about the transformation of politics by virtue of another "youth vs. experience" battle dressed in Black, it would be entertaining enough, but almost meaningless. STREET FIGHT is far more. The 2002 mayoral race in Newark cut like a surgeon's knife through the epidermis of American Democracy to reveal the tumors, leeches and boils of free-market capitalism underneath, and its effect on the health of the entire nation. When the propaganda and gangsta politics of the incumbent mayor meet the growing street smarts, idealism and naïve optimism of the young challenger, the various forms of cultural neuroses facilitating the economic disenfranchisement inherent in the system is revealed. Neuroses about integrity, money, race and class kept frighteningly alive today, at the expense of all the people. Neuroses that have their origins in the slavery economy of our past. The mayoral race, indeed, begins to involve all the people: children, local police, local business owners, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Bill Clinton. The soul of the Democratic Party and the soul of the African-American community is put on display. And yet, throughout the playing out of the drama, the cult of personality and the Civil Rights rhetoric, only one side wants to discuss the actual issues affecting the people of Newark: crime; homelessness; job loss; a dilapidated educational system; poor health care; illegal drugs; severe inequality; and the near ownership of the city by slumlords and greedy developers.
With the "Cheney/Bush junta" years now almost behind us, it has been easy for us to paint Republicans with a broad brush, and project all of the faults of our democracy onto them. Books like WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS by Thomas Frank, and UP FROM CONSERVATISM by Michael Lind, seem to make the agenda behind propaganda and corrupt politics on the right, nurtured by a complicit media, so abundantly clear that such blame seems warranted. STREET FIGHT, however, makes it clear that corruption in politics does not discriminate. The 2002 Mayoral race in Newark shows, unequivocally, how democracy in America is profoundly, almost fatally wounded by an institutionalized corruption in the Democratic party on the local level that is beholden to institutionalized corruption in the Republican party on the national level. Both facilitated by a corrupt media. All serving an overarching hidden economic agenda that is, by its very nature, antithetical to democracy.
By the time STREET FIGHT is over, and the actual practices of both campaigns are put in the harshest light, one is left with a disturbing view of the democratic process in America, and an equally disturbing view of the cultural neuroses within the Black community as a whole in 2002--its people and its leaders. Both of which had to be confronted on the local level for Obama to be elected president, and must be overcome for actual change in our country to take place on the national level, in this the 21st century.
STREET FIGHT is more than a history lesson. It is a cultural analysis of what it is to be both American and African-American in our time, and a wake-up call to the courage and character the 21st century actually demands. It is also an unflinching look at how much our time can resemble the 19th century when the wrong political forces are pulling the strings. I cannot recommend this documentary to both political junkies and non-political junkies enough.
(P.S.: if you are not from the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut , or simply do not know or remember the outcome, don't spoil the ending by going to the internet until after you see it. It is profoundly uplifting.)
Customer Rating:
Summary: GREATEST DOCUMENTARY ON RACE AND POLITICS VERY RAW AND REAL A++++++
Comment: STREETFIGHT HAS TO BE ONE OF THE BEST DOCUMENTARYS ON POLITICS I SEEN IN A LONG TIME. I REMEMBER RENTING THIS MOVIE AT THE LIBRARY AND THE COVER HAS A LIGHT SKINNED DUDE YELLING LIKE HE WAS CRAZY BUT IT WAS WELL WORTH THE LOOK. THE DOCUMENTARY IS SHORT LIKE 90 MINUTS BUT ITS SOOOO GOOD BECAUSE THIS DOCUMENTARY LOOKS AT TWO AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN RUNNING FOR OFFICE OF MAYOR BUT THE THING IS THAT THIS WAS A REAL STREETFIGHT NOT WITH FIST BUT WITH WORDS OF RACE, CORRUPTIONS AND QUALIFICATIONS. I THOUGHT THAT SHARPE JAMES WAS A LOW DOWN PERSON WHO USED RACE AS WAY MOVE AWAY FROM THE ISSUES THAT SHARPE JAMES WAS NOT HANDLING AT ALL. WHEN PEOPLE YELLED ABOUT THE CONDITIONS THAT ARE HAPPENING IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD...SHARPE JAMES TALKS ABOUT CORYS JEWISH BACKGROUND HOW HE WANTS TO BE WHITE AND DOESNT HAVE ANY CONNECTION WITH THE BLACK AND LATINO COMMUNITY. I THOUGHT TO MYSELF THAT IS SO CRAZY THAT SHARPE WOULD USE HE RACIAL BACKGROUND AND TALK ABOUT HE WANTS TO SOUND WHITE AND BE WHITE AND MEANWHILE HE IS COLLECTING AN HIGH PAYING SALARY ON THE TAXPAYERS MONEY AND HE IS NOT DOING ANYTHING FOR THE COMMUNITY TO CHANGE THE DRUGS THE CRIME THE PROVERTY OR EMPLOYMENT. THIS IS THE KIND OF MOVIE THAT DOES GET YOU ROOTING FOR CORY BOOKER. I WAS ROOTING FOR HIM TO WIN BECAUSE HE IS IDEALIST PERSON WHO IS SO SICK OF THE CONDITIONS THAT ARE HAPPENING IN HIS NEIGHBORHOOD AND DECIDED TO RUN FOR MAYOR AND TAKE A STAND . I LOVE THAT HE KEEPS IT REAL AND GOES TO THE PEOPLE AND TELLING HIM THAT HE MAY COME FROM A RICH AND EDUCATED BACKGROUND BUT HE HAS THOSE DIRTY CLOTHES THAT NEED TO BE WASH IN HIS APARTMENT AND HE NEEDS TO WASH THOSE DISHES. THE POINT HE WAS MAKING WAS THAT HE IS NOT LIVING A RICH LIFESTYLE THAT HE IS LIKE THE POOR TRYING TO MAKE IT ANOTHER DAY. YOU WILL SEE TWO SIDES OF THE FIGHT I CHOSE CORY SIDE BECAUSE I LIKE WHEN IDEALIST PEOPLE HAVE TO FIGHT THEIR WAY TO THE TOP TO SHOW THE WORLD THAT LIKE DUST I WILL RISE. SO BUY THIS MOVIE WHEN IT GOES CHEAP BECAUSE ITS A LITTLE TOO HIGH NOW BUT WHEN ITS THE RIGHT PRICE YOU WILL SEE THAT AT THE END OF THIS DOCUMENTARY SEE HOW THIS STREET FIGHT TAKES POLITICS TO A NEW LEVEL. ENJOY THE MOVIE AND SUPPORT CORY BOOKER!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Riverting Documentary
Comment: With the current focus on the presidential election, it's easy to forget how local politics can be done, and how it reflects America. We want to believe that our democracy is perfect, that a political machine can't exist in an American city in the 21st century. "Street Fight," the excellent film by Marshall Curry, shows that, unfortunately, it can.
"Street Fight" is about the 2002 Newark mayoral race, between long-time incumbent Sharpe James, and challenger Cory Booker, both Democrats. Booker was highly successful in college, being a Rhodes Scholar, a Yale Law School graduate, and an athlete at Stanford. He did not like the way his hometown was being run, however, and wanted to change things. He won a hard-fought contest for city council in Newark, moved into a public housing project, and made the decision to run for mayor in 2002. Sharpe James was racked by corruption scandals, with several of his staff having to resign, though James himself stayed in office. James had given himself a raise to about $200k a year, and became a state senator with a similarly large salary, so he made more than most state governors make. In addition, though James had built a performing arts center, new housing, and a sports center in downtown Newark, poverty continued to be a reality for about half of the city. The mayor had also, according to Booker, demolished about 10,000 poor houses, but only built 2,000 new ones. So it sounds like Booker is in a good position to unseat James.
Unfortunately, Booker has to contend with a powerful machine. Business owners have visits from code enforcement if they put up Cory Booker signs in their windows. The head of code enforcement was demoted to supervising 2 sanitation workers when he supported a candidate for city council that James didn't like. A pastor of a church was threatened when he criticized James. Curry himself was subjected to intimidation when he filmed James' announcement that he was running for re-election; some plain-clothes officers tried to confiscate his footage. Evidently, they saw Curry with Booker. A nightclub where a Booker rally is supposed to be held closes, since he believes the police will come if the event is held. And on and on.
Booker is determined to rise above it, however. He goes door to door and talks to people on the streets about the problems he sees with the city. Someone on the Booker campaign says that in Newark, elections are fought and won on the streets, not in soundbites. Since Booker is running a "choir-boy campaign" (all positive ads), he risks falling very hard if he falls. And boy, is James determined to make him fall, He calls Booker a "carpetbagger" and a "sop," implies that he's a tool of Republicans and Jews, and implies that he's "not black enough." Booker doggedly fights on, though, going on talk-shows, into neighborhoods, preaching his message to anyone who will listen.
On election day, the atmosphere had become so intense that federal election monitors are brought in to watch for voter intimidation. Their impact is sporadic, since we see people selectively taking down Booker signs in blatant disregard of a federal order, and since there are allegations of voting levers being broken. Despite big leads in the Hispanic and Portuguese districts, Booker ultimately loses, by about 4,000 votes. The machine won. In 2006, James unexpectedly dropped out of the mayoral race, and Booker won by a landslide. Further, James is currently under investigation on fraud and corruption charges.
Local politics is often more interesting than the national variety, since that is where the politicians are closest to the people. "Street Fight" shows a microcosm of American democracy, and anyone who enjoys American politics and social history on a small scale could do no better than to watch this excellent movie.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Where Can I Sign Up for the Cory Booker Campaign?
Comment: Having been involved in several political campaigns, there is really nothing quite like the dynamics that go into a municipal campaign. Though some might think that an election in a city or town might not rise to the same level of intensity and interest as say a statewide election might, the local political campaigns often times are the most spirited, divisive and dirty.
As a city known to have its fair share of political and public corruption running rampant for several years, Newark, New Jersey was perhaps one of the most difficult places to decide to run against the establishment in the past two decades. However, thanks to the relentless campaigning of one individual destined to make his city a better place to live and work, Newark's political climate perhaps has now been forever changed.
The movie Street Fight is a documentary glimpse at the 2002 campaign of Cory Booker, an Ivy League educated Newark City Councilor who decided that the years of mismanagement at the hands of Sharpe James needed to come to and end. Sharpe James, a sort of politically ruthless leader who at times seemed more concerned about his own money and power than the success of Newark, had been mayor for decades and Booker's take is that the city had suffered greatly at the hands of Mayor James.
The movie is interesting in the sense that it really dives right into the facts and scenarios of ground level campaigning on a grassroots level. Booker's attempts to overthrow the Sharpe administration from the mayor's office certainly was nowhere near as deeply entrenched as Sharpe's political machine was and the movie did a phenomenal job at showing the political forces that the Booker campaign was up against.
For instance, at political events certainly there was an ethical breach by members of the Newark Police Department who were intimidating and accosting members of the Booker campaign and the documentary film maker at Sharpe James' events. This clear violation of public servants serving in campaign capacities was brilliantly documented by the camera and it would be interested to see if complaints were in fact ever lodged for these violations.
The movie also does an admirable job at trying to show the mudslinging that was done by the James campaign against Cory Booker not just as a candidate but as an individual, as well. Calling Booker a carpetbagger, Republican and homosexual to name a few, the James campaign was certainly exposed for their down and dirty campaign methods for which they were willing to put ethical standards or morals aside and instead focused their goals on whatever it took to win.
There is an enormous amount of expose sort of reporting that went into the creation of this documentary. One scene that comes to mind is when Sharpe James was talking about how his ground forces of campaign volunteers were Newark residents who wanted to re-elect him thanks to all that he had done for the city. When the camera then turns to alleged Sharpe James supporters the truth of the matter is that the volunteers are instead paid employees from a temp agency out of Pennsylvania. Certainly not the constituents that Sharpe James thought they were.
The open and outward animosity and aggression that the Sharpe James campaign showed toward not just the Booker campaign but also the documentary film maker was remarkable. To be so bold as to attack a member of the press certainly was an audacious move the Sharpe James campaign resorted to more than once and the capturing of this on film makes this documentary all the more interesting.
While Street Fight was perhaps not meant to make the viewer become enamored with the persona and campaign style of Cory Booker, after watching this film it is almost as if the viewer becomes sold on the fact that Cory Booker should have won the 2002 mayoral election and if I had the opportunity to cast my vote for someone, just by meeting Booker in this film alone I would have been more than impressed and would have supported his candidacy.
Directed by Marshall Curry, Street Fight is an absolutely stellar documentary showing the inside workings of a municipal political campaign. Although the effort mounted by the Cory Booker campaign in 2002 was not enough to overthrow Sharpe James in 2002, Cory Booker did go on to become mayor of Newark the next election cycle and currently serves as Newark's mayor.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing eye opening view of democracy gone wrong
Comment: This is down and dirty politics. Street Fight pulls no punches and gets you front row seats to a no holds barred political battle. One of the best documentaries I've seen in a long time. You will be shocked, frustrated, angry, hopeful, and on the edge of your seat. For any fan of politics American style, or of great documentaries, grab a copy and get ready to put up your dukes.
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Editorial Reviews:
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(Documentary) Oscar-nominated STREET FIGHT follows the turbulent campaign of Cory Booker, a 32-year old Rhodes Scholar/Yale Law grad running for mayor of Newark, N.J. against Sharpe James, the four-term street smart incumbent twice his age. It tells an Am
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