Customer Reviews

Unprecedented - 2000 Presidential Election [VHS]

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I just saw this movie and we had the opportunity to speak with the directors afterwards. It was a thoroughly investigated and informative look at the 2000 election. To counter comments made in a negative review--regarding the lack of Republican interviews--this question was asked of the directors this evening. Requests for interviews were sent to all key parties involved in the election, Republican and Democratic. All major Republican players declined their invitations. As well, many key Democratic officials declined to interview. The directors of this movie went to great lengths to show only those issues that were well-corroborated. There were many topics that they left out, such as rumors of police turning voters away, or stolen ballot-boxes, etc. because of lack of supporting evidence.

I urge everyone to watch this movie, Republican, Democratic, or otherwise. This movie will force us all to take a long, hard look at the flawed election system in the US and ultimately, to think about what we need to do to fix it.

This documentary did an exceptional job of investigating the Florida vote controversy.
To address other negative reviewers arguments:

The documentary didn't try to link the felon list to black disenfranchisement alone. They offered the statistic that the majority of ex-felons vote for Democrats while also noting that 90% of all blacks vote for Democrats. Additionally, 50% of ex-felons in Florida are black. Add it all up, and Katharine Harris's masterful list of names would inevitably affect many more Democratic voters than Republican ones. It's as simple as that. She knew what she was doing. Purging of voter rolls is not new, but a statewide 15% error rate is absurb and wrong.
It WAS a concerted effort to block Democratic voters.

One fact that wasn't mentioned in the documentary was that the election commissioner in one county had her name removed from the rolls because she was supposedly a felon!

Harris was the CO-CHAIR of BUSH'S CAMPAIGN and she got to use her "discretion" to decide which votes to count! That fact alone is so absolutely outrageous (but true, regardless of your bias).

There is no doubt that this isn't the first time an election was stolen, even at the presidential level. But it's still disconcerting to know that the man who lost the popular vote and, by voters' intent, lost the electoral college is president today.

Even if you forget all the disenfranchisement controversy and just consider the thousands of votes Pat Buchanan got in the heavily Jewish/Democratic area with the infamous butterfly ballot, Gore would have won. Many voters mistakenly voted for Buchanan -- evident in personal testimonies and apparent in the extremely high number of votes Buchanan got in these Jewish communities. Buchanan is known for essentially saying the Holocaust didn't happen or something anti-Semitic like that (regardless of the details, even Buchanan himself stated after the election that those votes clearly weren't meant for him).

Sure, you can say some things are "biased" in this, but Republicans are so guilty of trying to sway the public view with bias (like claiming that Democrats wanted to block the military overseas ballots, which is just not true -- they wanted to make sure that illegal overseas absentee ballots were not counted). Democrats could make the claim that Republicans wanted to block the black and Jewish vote, which they basically did, but not exactly so. It's more true than saying Democrats didn't want the military to vote, which is what James Baker stated in a press conference on Bush's behalf. Just a blatant lie.

Lately Republicans try to equate "liberal bias" with something being false, when in fact it's their own bias that leads them to believe the truth is biased against them! I used to vote for Republicans more often than not, but now I have trouble seeing beyond the party affiliation. I admit I am a Jim Jeffords independent, but I admire moderate/independent-thinking Republicans such as John McCain, George Voinovich, and Arlen Specter, to name a few.

Overall, the documentary is not necessarily exciting, but at times the evidence presented is infuriating and shocking, though all completely true. Definitely a must-see for anyone living and voting in America.

A fifty-minute documentary that shows in concise and dramatic fashion just how certain Republicans, from Jeb Bush to Katherine Harris to various operatives, rigged the Florida vote in the 2000 Presidential Election and how the Supreme Court voted to deny Americans a fair election. The interviews are extensive and shocking; the "accidental" computer purging of eligible Black and Democrat voters was criminal; and the scenes of Republican political operatives interfering with recount efforts make it clear that we don't currently have a functional democracy in the United States. If we are about to install "free and fair elections" in Iraq, why can't we have them here too? Let us hope that Americans will watch this video, that the mainstream media will begin to cover political and electoral misdeeds, and that we will take steps to ensure a free and fair election in 2004. A great companion piece to this video is Greg Palast's book "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy," the first chapter of which covers some of the same ground (Investigative reporter Palast is interviewed at length in "Unprecedented" and he uncovered much of the Republican mischief in Florida).

I saw this documentary in May and was totally surprised at the information they showed. I am a Floridian who thought I knew everything about what happened in this election, but I was totally mistaken! If I had understood all that had taken place behind the scenes, I would have been even more upset at what happened. Of course, NOW, with what Bush has and is doing, I'm already more upset than then. At the time, I thought Bush might be OK since he seemed to be a nice guy, even though I voted for Gore. Now I want to get the video to show to everyone in my neighborhood who would like to see it.

As usual, time validates all the assertions made in this movie: The growing Diebold voting machine scandal, Bush getting caught in more lies and the continuing political fallout in Florida.

Everyone already figured out that G. Bush, his brother and his supporters monkeyed with the Florida vote, this film simply does a good job of telling the story. All the corruption and stupidity involved in this vote scam is exposed in this film. Watch Unprecedented and learn from it since this voter flim-flam will happen again!

Forget about which "side" you're on. This is for the movie nuts among us. Plus watching "Unprecented" for the first time is like watching one of those "60 Minutes" segments when you feel like your head's about to explode because of what you just found out.

Yes, it's about the Democrats being rolled over by an organized and ultimately more professional Republican political machine, but that's just the bare bones of the narrative. This is like a multi-character miniseries squeezed into a ninety-minute time frame, and some of the performances are memorable -- like the footage of Kathryn Harris in her role as the screen's first credible Lady Terminator, not even bothering to spin a cover story while operating as both Florida's election-supervising Secretary of State and chairperson of Bush's Florida campaign. But back to that "60 Minutes" context: When was the last time you saw the subject of one of "those" interviews tear off his lapel microphone and stalk off? Just because the questions were getting a wee bit too specific? The award goes to Robert Clayton, head honcho at the State of Florida's Division of Election. Then there's the courtroom subplot, which kicks in at about the half-way point, and is nutty in a whole different sort of way.

You'll probably have your own favorite scene. Mine was the freeze-framed local TV station's hallway shot of the principals in the "citizens' spontaneous protest" just outside the offices of the recount they were protesting against. Until they succeeded and the local officials gave up and quit. Whatever other emotions you have when that freeze-frame identifies those key "protesters," you won't be able to repress a feeling of
admiration at their unblinking assertion of raw power.

Because "Unprecedented" is ultimately about power. Like an afternoon spent reading Sun Tzu's "The Art of War", "Unprecedented" is an immersion in the study of the successful wielding of power. And if you're a real movie buff like me, watch it one afternoon or evening at home on a double bill with the artillery explosion-stuffed Ian McKellen version of Shakespeare's "Richard III", set in a timewarped 1930's England. If you're interested in studying the successful exercise of raw power, there's a double feature for you.

This one's about Power. Strategy. Tactics. Winners. And losers.

To some Americans, "patriotism" means "winning" at all costs, by any means necessary, regardless of the reason. To others, it means fighting for the principles that have allowed us to claim that our form of government is more "just" than any in the world. Whichever way you lean, you'll see a fascinating study of how a few strategically placed people can "make" a President despite the will of "the people."

It's like watching "The Godfather," except the protagonists are officials who corrupt what the public expects them to protect. There's theft, intimidation, back-room manipulation, deceit in front of TV cameras, stooges parading as "average citizens," conflicts of interest in the highest places, and the absolute arrogance of people with the power to thumb their noses at a system of checks and balances they can rig at will.

"Unprecedented" is straightforward. You won't be preached to, as what those on screen say and do (or don't say and do) speaks for itself. You'll be pretty certain about the motives of those who lost but "won" anyway. You'll question what was going on in the heads of those who gave up on victory. You'll wonder what the victims are supposed to do when their government mugs, blindfolds, gags, and tosses them in the river.

Maybe the 2000 Presidential election is a "dead horse" to you. "Unprecedented" forces you to consider how you feel about having the horse's head delivered to you wrapped in the American flag, bleeding the mutilated votes of innocent fellow citizens. It is "must" viewing for "patriots" who believe "it couldn't happen here," as well as for those who rejoice that it did.

This video NAILED the real election story, the story out there, for those who know how to read beyond headlines, and who learned to ignore TV news outlets, long ago. There were some things it could have gone into, but didn't, but it's a short. One can't expect in depth data from film. It just doesn't happen.

Some corrections to Viewer in Midwest:

If ANY absentee vote isn't sent on time, then it doesn't count. Period. I don't care if it's from the Almighty himself, or from a soldier. How about some of that personal responsibility that Republicans are always screaming about? As a former airman, I voted in elections in my home state while I lived far, far away. I knew what I needed to do, and the military helped with that process. Still, it is up to YOU to make the arrangements to get the ballot and send it back in a timely fashion, so that it will arrive ON TIME. And you don't bellyache if it doesn't work that way because YOU were too lazy to do it.

As for Dems "starting" the craziness of the Y2K elections, of course the party leader would be there if doubts arose about the votes--that's his JOB. The Republicans made this a mess, in more ways than one, when THEY filed their crybaby lawsuits. Odd, since they don't want ordinary citizens filing lawsuits, but that's another point.

First of all, whomever at Amazon who vets these ought to not post any reviews from someone who admits THEY'VE NEVER SEEN THE DOCUMENTARY (like the guy a ways below). I have seen the documentary, a few months ago on IFC.

Secondly, the documentary goes out of its way to point out how Al Gore, idiot that he was/is, mis-handled the recount legality issues in the post-election days.

Thirdly, and most importantly, the documentary makes it abundantly clear that some United States citizens, residing in the state of Florida, were denied their legal right to vote in 2000. After you have seen this documentary, there is no doubt of that fact.

This is possibly the REAL story of how Harris (the then-Florida State Secretary), Bush & the Florida Republican-led Legislature fixed the 2000 Presidential election. And, for those of you exhausted on the subject, the REAL story has little to do with the recount or "hanging chads".

Prior to the 2000 election, Harris and the Legislature retained a company called DBS systems. The state paid DBS millions of dollars to compile a list of felons residing in the state of Florida. The stated intention of this list was to enforce an obscure 100-year old Florida law that prevents convicted felons from voting.

In principle, however, Harris knew that a high number of blacks would turn up on any such list. Blacks in Florida have historically voted overwhelmingly Democrat (Jeb Bush was defeated in 1994 for Governor in Florida, when asked what he would do for impoverished blacks in the state of Florida if he were elected, replied "probably nothing").

At a post-2000-election NAACP-lawsuit trial, DBS officials gave testimony and documentation that Harris' office directed them to not match the first names, middle names or birthdates of anyone appearing on the list; DBS was instructed to only match the last name.

DBS responded in writing that this would result in thousands of false positives, but Harris' office replied, in writing, no problem. And, when DBS reported that some felony conviction dates didn't match, Harris' office instructed DBS to remove the conviction dates from the list entirely!

Working from DBS's submitted list, Harris' office then moved to delete everyone on it from the poll rosters. In the process, they deleted a then-unknown number of perfectly legal, eligible voters from the polls, many of whom showed up at the polls and were subsequently denied their right as U.S. citizens to cast their vote.

And, as we all know now, Dubya only won Florida by 537 votes. Last month, the Florida State Board Of Elections admitted, under duress, that the list now has FORTY-SEVEN THOUSAND names.

Today, a Florida State judge halted all attempts by the State of Florida to keep the list secret, and has ordered it released to the press and anyone who wants it.

Hopefully, that just judicial ruling, and this documentary, will be viewed by history as getting us to where we are today: CLOSER TO THE TRUTH.

It's going to be real interesting, between now and November, when the list has been independently vetted and we find out just how many of the 47,000 were false positives.

Truly an indepspensible view of what occured during the last election. Indespensible viewing in the hopes that it won't happen again. It should be required viewing in civics classes.