“All In: The Fight for Democracy” is directed by Lisa Cortes and Liz Garbus. This documentary mainly revolves around, not to mention stars Stacey Abrams, who ran for governorship in the state of Georgia and ended up losing to Republican Brian Kemp. The documentary in particular partially goes over the events of the election, but also dives into history behind voting. And despite the claims that everyone in the United States has a right to an equal vote, this movie plunges into why that may not always be the case.

Before the pandemic, I had an opportunity to watch several movies in theaters through early access screenings. But unfortunately, due to the way things are, I have not been invited to any, and I have not been reminded of any for months. Although I will say that Amazon Studios has been coming through because they recently showed “Radioactive” early online, which at the time, may have been the best movie of the year in terms of acting and production design. This is yet another time they have come through during the pandemic as they are showing the all new documentary, “All In: The Fight for Democracy.”

Little info about me. Yes, I have my preferred candidates. Yes, I sometimes observe the goings on regarding the United States government. But let me tell you, this is arguably the hardest review for a movie I have made in my four and a half years doing Scene Before. For one, I don’t traditionally review documentaries. I typically review like one per year. I also will point out that I don’t really like talking about politics. Maybe in 2016 when the whole election was… Hilarious, I would have been delighted to dive into some conversation. But no matter what happens, I am guaranteed to piss somebody off if I don’t say exactly what they want to hear. And I will say that this documentary in particular reminded me of that. This movie is one of those cases where footage plays during the credits. Specifically, you have everything rolling through, everyone’s name is showing up, and you see cameras in action. A lot of it is related to the subject matter of the film. That’s great and all, but when all these main statements came to a close, the movie ended with a phrase that kind of stood out to me.

“Tell everyone you know.”

I don’t know how I felt about that phrase, because I remember all these public figures a couple years ago, even if they were not involved in politics, basically just telling everyone to vote. And I get it, voting is a right, but all of these people suggesting to do such a thing at one time feels incredibly overwhelming. Plus I remember scrolling through social media and I saw one post that I kind of took to heart, and I will not give much away about my political views, but I don’t devote myself to parties. Overall, I think they’re kind of ridiculous. But I remember I saw a post that said something along the lines of “Please vote for whoever I say.” It’s definitely a much different phrasing than what I just suggested, but with that in mind, I feel like a lot of these people are trying to get you to vote for whoever THEY want you to. I don’t know why, and this shouldn’t take much away from the film as a whole, but that statement felt icky if you ask me. Because it felt like it just forced itself into your brain. It felt very propaganda-like. And yes, propaganda is everywhere. It is a tool that probably works on everyone. But as I grow and mature, I have a greater wish to think for myself than have someone else form my thoughts. This is why I don’t watch cable news!

Overall, as an American vote-based documentary, this is informative. It gives a great deal of information regarding our history on the good, the bad, and the ugly. It also deals with issues of today including gerrymandering, which is a word I often have in mind, but not one I always choose to reference or reflect upon. So this was a good reminder of a few things that maybe I don’t often always consider. It even goes into a fascinating experiment on trying to see who has already registered to vote, and as for those who aren’t registered, why that is the case. Let’s face it, Americans, including myself, happen to be lazy.

Yes, I type reviews that I traditionally like to produce with a thousand words at minimum. But you know why I’m lazy? For starters, I just used up my word count by telling you that I like to use a thousand words at minimum in my reviews, and this is helping me get there. But I often use the excuse, “I don’t have time.” Maybe there’s a number of cases when I say that and mean it because I take public transportation, and as much as I want to respect the environment, public transportation doesn’t always respect my time. But there’s always other cases where I might as well just suggest that because I have “more important things to do.” I have time to ride elevators for fun. I have time to go see “Tenet” again. I have time to sleep in. Do I have time to vote? More important question is, do I, and to add further translation, do other Americans have the willingness to vote? Between long lines, not knowing everything about every single candidate, and wondering if your vote actually counts, the act of voting perhaps raises a lot of questions. In fact, this upcoming Election Day is perhaps at the worst possible time. Most of my in-person classes at college are set for Tuesday right now. I have a rather extended commute. I wonder if the Post Office will even be a thing. And guess what? Guess how many people can say this?

I turn 21 the next day.

Therefore, on the same day that the next president is supposedly announced, there’s a good chance that depending on the result, I might want to drink so much alcohol that I forget every single U.S. president that has ever existed!

Now, a good documentary can change your perspective, yourself, the way you see the world, your thoughts on a subject matter, but I think that this documentary in particular has not changed my thoughts on voting. For one, I’m already registered, so maybe I’m not in the key demographic they’re really trying to aim for. I will admit, even though I don’t devote myself to a party, some of the stuff that is going on in the Republican Party right now is driving me nuts. This documentary, even though it seems to never avoid shying away from obviously leaning left, does a good job on objectifying some wrongs from the right. However, I can obviously see some people giving this documentary a low score because they don’t like anything liberal or left. But did this documentary alter my perspective on voting? Not really. It gave me a greater look at some of the reasons why not everyone’s vote may end up counting, but I often think about the electoral college. So even though we should go out and vote, someone else ultimately has the say for the United States. It’s just weird. I don’t usually talk politics this much, I don’t particularly like talking politics this much, and I hope that even though Election Day is coming up, I don’t have to dive too far into the subject matter again. It could be worse, it could be 2020–WAIT A MINUTE!

In the end, “All in: The Fight for Democracy” is watchable, but I don’t think I’ll recall it that much by the end of the year. Unlike some superior documentaries, it did not alter my perspective or add anything to it. I think Stacey Abrams makes a good case for herself here and her history was nice to see, and speaking of history, some of the backstory behind voting was intriguing. It wasn’t enough, however. This movie is playing in some theaters right now, but it’ll be free on Prime Video pretty soon, so if you have a Prime subscription, maybe you won’t be COMPLETELY robbed. I’m going to give “All in: The Fight for Democracy” a 6/10.

Thanks for reading this review! Just a reminder, “Tenet” is out in theaters right now! If you want to read my review for it, click right here! If you’ve already seen it, great! You didn’t have to like it, but good for you! If you haven’t seen it, I will just let you know that it definitely is worth the big screen treatment! Audio could use some work though. Be sure to follow Scene Before either with an email or WordPress account so you can stay tuned for more great content! Also, check out the official Scene Before Facebook page! I want to know, did you see “All in: The Fight for Democracy?” What did you think about it? Or, what is your favorite documentary of 2020? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!