Where I Watched It: MAX
English Audio Description?: Yes
Narrated By Tanzi Alexander
Immediately, a divisive documentary. The existence, and that title, just caused some to not click on the review, or immediately write me off as a person altogether. But there was something that caught my attention about Alexandra Pelosi being able to confront a bunch of January 6th rioters, who were part of a group of people who wanted to harm her mother, and ask them point blank questions. that intrigued me. It intrigues me in a way any documentarian who is confronting a demon of their past would, asking someone who did what they did, why did they do it? Do they have regrets? What do they have to say when actually having to look at someone directly affected? This film wouldn’t work if it was just some random person tasked with interviewing rioters, but instead it’s someone who witnessed people trying to harm her mother, and someone who sat in safety while worrying about where her mother was at this time.
And, Alexandra doesn’t hold back. There’s no reason for her to try and seem like a bias isn’t present. Her last name makes bias a casualty of the structure of the documentary. But, to see how restrained and calm she is through most of her interactions, and how really pretty calm her subjects are, makes for an interesting exchange. She interviews a handful of rioters, all who were there for supposedly different reasons, and all had different excuses. Some regretted it, some didn’t. No one directly implied that President Trump told them to storm Congress, but there is a lot of implication going around. These rioters would really prefer to not go to jail.
Everyone she interviews is different, and I didn’t feel like there was any sort of heavy editing used to make someone seem more evil, or stupid. Her questions are often point blank, and incredibly direct. She is a very direct interviewer, and doesn’t beat around the bush. If she wants to know something, she just asks. And, to give her subjects at least a teensie bit of praise, no one got caught in one burst of violent rage either. She didn’t set anyone off. This is the closest we can come to very different sides having civil discourse, while also clearly being on VERY different sides.
The narration here is done well since this isn’t a talking head style documentary. We get a glimpse into who these people are, what they look like, how they live, as well as lots of text that pops up on screen. Some riot footage is used, but this is not really an expose of that, but rather a series of meetings of individuals.
I thought it was fascinating, and as Alexandra treated each person differently, with a fresh start, I also walked away with different thoughts about each subject. Some people come off better than others, and it’s up to you to decide if what they are saying is genuine or if they are doing it for the camera. Alexandra doesn’t make that choice for you. That’s why this works, is she’s open in her bias, but also her editing truly allows people to be represented at length, instead of one sound bite taken out of context.
People will hate this grade, but it is what it is.
Final Grade: A
