Street Fight follows the mayoral race in Newark, New Jersey between challenger Corey Booker and incumbent Sharpe James. Booker is a rising star in the Democratic party. His campaign gained the support of the likes of Bill Bradley, Spike Lee and Cornell West. James is a corrupt old incumbent who runs the city. He has lasting power to hold on in a tough race. He runs a politcal machine in the city of Newark.
Booker runs an idealistic, clean campaign against the crafty, dirty James political machine. James used a range of attacks. There was the basic and base. Racist, homophobic and, amazingly, anti-Semetic slurs were hurled at Booker. There was the brazen. James outright lied about the amount of money Booker raised, his ancestory or his party affiliation ("Republican" is a dirty word in Newark). Always pervading the race was the shrewd spin the James campaign could apply to almost every news item. The James campaign hit particularly hard when a Booker staff member was caught at a strip club during a raid that found a 14 year old working.
You get a good look at the amount of money needed to stay close in the campaign. Booker says they need to raise $15,000 a day and $2-3 million total. Many voters expect gifts and catered meals at campaign functions.
The most disturbing aspect, among many disturbing aspects, of the campaign is the use of intimidation against James opponents. Police show up when Booker is on the campaign trail. They harrass businesses showing support to Booker. As in any campaign, signs are destroyed. This time, however, it is the police, not overzealous supporters that are ripping them down. The filmaker was denied the right to take video, his equipment shoved to the side, by police in public space. Campaign headquarters of Booker were broken into as well. James' people are shown as nothing more than thugs.
The filmmaker almost entirely ignores the issues and focuses the campaign. We see the everyday, street level fight for individual votes, the press spin and the strategizing. This fight was "won on the streets" and that is the theme the filmmaker projects. He gives us his story. He gives us a presentation, an angle of an event that could have been portrayed in others ways, from other directions. This means we may not get an accurate impression of the race.
In the end, despite the dirty tactics, Sharpe James wins. |