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Street Fight: A Film by Marshall Curry

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Most politically charged films focus on corruption at the higher levels of state, but STREET FIGHT gives us a curb-side view of something much smaller ...and much more important.

The 2002 Newark, New Jersey Mayoral race is something most voters in the U.S. could care less about. Why should someone in, say, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania pay attention to Newark's voting issues? Or someone in Fort Worth, Texas? Or San Francisco, California? Realistically, none of them would. But Newark is New Jersey's most populated city, and those in San Francisco and beyond might want to take a peak at what's happening to our democracy on a pseudo-microcosmic level.

The film's primary focus is on Cory Booker, a Newark city councilman with his eye on the mayor's office. He's a Stanford and Yale graduate who lives in a slum within Newark. He's an idealist who's grown tired of his city's poor schools, poorer neighborhoods, and rising jobless rate. To get into the mayor's office, though, he'll have to unseat four-time incumbent Sharpe James, a man who's firmly entrenched within Newark's politics.

We watch as writer/director/photographer Marshall Curry seeks to interview both sides of the race, first by checking in on Cory Booker's campaign, then by trying (in vain) to meet up with Sharpe James and his people. But once James' campaign personnel learn that Curry interviewed Booker already, he is immediately shunned and pushed aside (often in a very rough manner). Curry's camera is pushed around time and again, his microphone broken, and he's denied access to Sharpe James entirely. Even when Curry catches up with James at a public event, he's manhandled by Sharpe James' `brute squad.' Most will find this very unsettling, as this is a publicly elected figure in a public place who is, in essence, acting like a thug.

That we never touch on the political issues surrounding the campaign is interesting and absurd. These are both positive aspects of the film. It shows us how little our democracy means in many instances; it isn't the poor schools/neighborhoods/jobs that dominate voters' discussions, but who's "more republican" or "more black" (both candidates are black) or "campaign has more money" or "has visited a strip joint".

In the end, we watch Sharpe James use every slimy tactic at his disposal in order to win votes (including bringing in paid James' supporters from out-of-state to help bolster support on election day). Booker doesn't win the election, thus giving the viewer a very negative view of New Jersey politics. But all is not gloom and doom.

In 2006, Cory Booker returned to the mayoral race and took Newark by storm. Sharpe James uncharacteristically dropped from the race for unknown reasons while a new runner took up position against Booker, only to be squashed in the largest landslide win of any mayoral race in New Jersey history.

But the bitter taste of the 2002 race still lingers in audiences minds after watching Street Fight. It's a tough film to watch, because we all want to believe that our democracy is flawless when, in fact, it has so many problems and shady dealings as to make one ill at the prospect.

Q: Why should anyone west of the Delaware River care about the Newark, NJ mayoral race of 2002? A: For me, this was an edge-of-the-seat suspenser that wouldn't let go long enough to let me take a phone call. If you don't know how it ends, see it for the cliffhanging story it tells. For anyone else, this compact little documentary should be seen for its relentless journalistic energy. As American politics becomes more and more dominated by fear tactics, the corporate-owned news organizations have abdicated their duties as the Fourth Estate of our republic, leaving independents like Marshall Curry to take up the mantle. STREET FIGHT compares favorably with the classic MEDIUM COOL, and entertains like a latter-day version of THE CANDIDATE.

We see Sharpe James, a six-term incumbent, try every dirty trick in the book to hold on to his office: he threatens business closures for those who put rival Cory Booker's sign in their windows; he smears the Booker campaign with bogus sex scandals; he even uses the fact that out of the two African American candidates, Booker is less "real" for having lighter skin than his. Both sides wrangle for endorsements, meet with community groups, and chase every dollar not nailed down. The kind of back room manipulations used by James would seem highly improbable in a fictional film. Although it may take place in a different city, this documentary is the perfect companion piece to Season Three of THE WIRE. The similarities between the two political environments is uncanny.

Booker himself, 32 years old at the time of the race, is all forward momentum. Barak Obama is clearly not the only young politician who threatens to breathe some life into our dying democracy. On the eve of the election, a child who has just touched Booker tells Curry, off camera, to smell her hands. "Why, does he have a smell?" "Yes," says the girl. "He smells like the future."

This film had me glued to my TV set for it's full 90 minutes. Though I don't live that far from New Jersey, I was unaware of the political campaigns for the position of Mayor in Newark, NJ. At first I noted that this was about a campaign four years ago and thought it was an old film. But it's not. It goes right up through 2006.

One of the marks of a great documentary film is that you feel you are really there. This was shot on video and makes it even more realistic (well, it IS real). I find it hard to believe that this Director Marshall Curry's first full-length feature. It's that gripping. And the lead "characters" of Cory Booker and Mayor Sharpe have such distinct personalities that, as the film progresses, you can't help but take sides.

The film was shown on PBS's show P.O.V. but that is usually aired at very oddball, times - and rarely repeated. And the 20-minute interview with Director Curry helps flesh out some of the details and explains why he became the film's narrator.

The best way to watch this film is to know as little as possible about the story before watching it. Let it reveal itself. Then watch the Curry interview.

This is one of the best documentary films I've seen in at least the last six months (and I'm a documentary "addict"). No wonder it was nominated for a 2006 Academy Award!

Steve Ramm "Anything Phonographic"

This documentary shows the nity gritty reality of local politics in America. Director Marshall Curry follows the battle between Cory Booker and incumbent Sharp James as they fight for the city of Newark, NJ. For those, like myself, who find themselves losing hope in our nations political leaders, Cory Booker is a true oasis in the desert. This film is one of the best and most meaningful documentaries I have ever seen.

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.)

As a New Jersey resident who is active in politics, I was thrilled to see this movie. This is the sort of stuff we put up with every election cycle. I hope everyone in NJ watches this and resolves to do something positive to change the system.

Street Fight is a gripping documentary that would appeal to voters from either end of the political spectrum. For anyone who considers politics to be boring, some of what happens in this piece is so amazing that it's hard to believe it's not fiction.

There's no Amazon overview, so here's a quick breakdown. Street Fight is an Oscar-nominated documentary that takes a hard look at the suspenseful events surrounding the 2002 Newark, New Jersey mayor's race. In one corner is Yale Law graduate Cory Booker, in the other corner is longtime incumbent mayor Sharpe James. What ensues is the campaign equivalent of Tyson-Holyfield II; the gloves come off, and the dirty tactics begin. If you think that you've seen dirty campaigning and smear tactics in modern politics, it won't hold a candle to what occurred during the 2002 mayoral race.

The documentary is focused largely on the activities of Cory Booker, although the viewer will understand that wasn't entirely by the director's choice. Marshall Curry shines a spotlight on the tension that exists within the Black community with respect to politics. The film offers an interesting glimpse at how Booker, a candidate that benefited from the Civil Rights Movement, finds himself at a disadvantage when his opponent paints him as an outsider.

Street Fight is raw, suspenseful, and ultimately a very emotional documentary. Regardless of your political affiliation, it's a must-watch film that exposes some of the ills that I think all of us are tired of seeing in politics.

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.

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.

Street Fight (2005)
directed by Marshall Curry

I lived in NYC for a few years and would always see the New Jersey political scandals on the news. The Garden State doesn't have a good reputation. As a Southerner living on the East Coast, it seemed to me that New Yorkers thought of Jerseyites as their backwards little brothers. This is unfair, especially coming from a state that elects a carpetbagger as their Senator. However, after watching this documentary on the 2002 Newark mayoral race, you will definitely get the impression that New Jersey politics are "a little different".

The movie kicks off following the young candidate Corey Booker as he goes door to door. His philosophy is that he should try to personally meet with as many of his constituents as possible. While campaigning in a low-income apartment building, the Housing Authority shows up and orders him to to leave or else he will be arrested. Throughout the movie it becomes clear that all branches of local law enforcement are working on behalf of the incumbent candidate, Sharpe James.

You find out very quickly that this election isn't just about the direction of New Jersey, its about a public image of authenticity (especially racial authenticity). Both of the candidates are black but their actions, history and even appearances are used to sway voters. Although he grew up in the suburbs and went to top colleges, Corey serves on the City Council while living in housing projects. He's an intense speaker and he is young and has a light complexion. Sharpe James is older, raised in the inner city, a military veteran, has a "fun" public personality and has been the mayor during good times and bad times (since 1986). While Corey never questions Sharpe's blackness, he does say that his policies are harmful to his biggest supporters. For his part, Sharpe calls Corey everything from a Jew to a KKK supporter (how does that work?) as well as the usual "Uncle Tom" slur. The media picks up on this and asks that he explain contributions from Republicans and about connections to *SHOCK* J.C. Watts, as though the latter is some kind of radical. The Watts link (like most of Sharpe's statements) turns out to be totally fabricated... but even if it were true, has stubborn partisanism become so corrosive that support from across party lines is scandalous? Incidentally, this is the same thing Terry McAuliffe did to smear Ralph Nader in 2004.

But back to the subject at hand! Some of the most interesting footage in the movie is when the supporters themselves are shown. At their best, they publicly debate the issues and let their voices be heard. At their worst, they are disruptive and intolerant of other opinions. But whatever camp they're in, its refreshing to see people (especially young people) enthusiastic about an election. Each candidate also has their own celebrity support as well: Sharpe makes appearances with Al Sharpton and then-governor Jim McGreevey while Corey enlists Spike Lee and Cornel West. You also see some statements from advisors and regular campaign workers and see how much this campaign means to them.

You could accuse Marshall Curry of being partisan in his movie, and my guess is that he would admit to liking Corey Booker (or least his campaign) more than Sharpe James. However Sharpe really doesn't do a whole lot to present a better picture of himself. He is charismatic and apparently did do some positive things for the city, but in the few minutes that he did allow himself to be filmed, he proved himself to be a despot. The segment on the "debates" is really a circus! From censorship, to gross misuse of law enforcement to out and out lies, the only question you'll ask about Sharpe James is why somebody didn't do a 'STREET FIGHT' sooner?

There are a lot of movies now which follow political campaigns. What is interesting about this genre is that each election is generally works the same way but certain things (usually a scandal or outrageous personality) bring something new. Both Corey and Sharpe are "good characters" and the other issues of identity and leadership make this a compelling story.

All in all a fascinating movie.