Street Fight
Street Fight
| 23 April 2005 (USA)
Street Fight Trailers

This documentary follows the 2002 mayoral campaign in Newark, New Jersey, in which a City Councilman, Cory Booker, attempted to unseat longtime mayor Sharpe James.

Reviews
CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!
Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?
FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.
Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
masonfisk Man, city politics is probably the most soul-killing, mind numbing public spectacle we humans witness from time to time. As evidenced in Street Fight, the chronicle of Sharpe James/Corey Booker mayoral race, one clearly sees the struggle between the bought James & the idealistic Booker fighting for a city that quite possibly doesn't care how the election will turn out since the outcome, to some, is obvious. Next to Illinois, New Jersey has the stench of political corruption on the city level so much so John Sayles created a fictional NJ town in his film, City of Hope, to showcase the rampant malaise affecting his berg. Now in this documentary, we see the corruption & graft in the flesh and we're fascinated by it but not really surprised. Corey Booker has gone on to become a state senator and even his 'successful' stint as a mayor is being recalled as problematic by the electorate which put him there. Can anyone escape the taint of the public calling?
asc85 It was interesting, and I enjoyed it. A little on the short side though...I believe it's running time is 83 minutes.In the director comments, Curry says this is "a film about Cory Booker, not a commercial about Cory Booker." I respectfully disagree with that. This film really shows no negatives about Booker. Is that "true"? I'm not sure. If it is true, then this film is an early look at one of the upcoming superstars in New Jersey (and probably American) politics. I can definitely see him running for Governor or Senator in the next 5-10 years. And then people will look back on this film with even more interest to see where it started.Sharpe James comes off looking pretty bad in this movie, and it seems deservedly so. However, as someone who has lived in New Jersey most of his life, I will say that Sharpe James was a huge improvement on the guy he replaced, Kenneth Gibson. The movie glosses over some of the things Sharpe James accomplished. Newark definitely still has a long way to go, but in my opinion, James left it in much better shape than when he got there in 1986.
exeverything This film does for politics on a local level what "The War Room" did for presidential politics, providing a fascinating in-depth look behind the scenes of campaigns and elections. I agree that "Street Fight" is a bit one-sided, though part of that is by necessity, as sharpe james' staff denied the director any kind of access, which the film shows in a series of outrageous scenes. And besides, documentaries in recent years have generally adhered to a more op-ed kind of style (e.g. fahrenheit 911). But whatever your politics, Street Fight's subject matter is something you haven't seen before, and it is extremely well-done and vastly entertaining. see it.
Alan This film won the audience choice award at the Tribeca Film Festival, and it certainly deserved it. Amazingly enough, this is Marshall Curry's first film. I truly hope to see more films from him.While the subject of national and international politics has been the subject of many critically acclaimed documentaries, Street Fight concentrates on the 2002 Mayoral election in one urban city, Newark, N.J., which is wracked by homelessness, drug addiction and poverty. The movie is perhaps one of the most compelling and interesting documentaries I have ever seen. The film's title is quite appropriate because Television ads are meaningless, but rather these hard-fought battles are won on the street.The film's director tried to follow the campaigns of both the incumbent Mayor, Sharpe James, who has been Mayor for 16 years and the campaign of the upstart 1st term Councilman, Cory Booker. While the Booker campaign welcomes the filmmaker, Mayor James is less welcoming and outwardly hostile. The film quickly evolves into a compelling David vs. Goliath epic.You'll watch as Mayor James instructs the Newark police officers act like Storm Troopers intimidating and assaulting campaign workers blatantly violating state and federal law. You'll be outraged as you watch those same police officers attack the film's director in broad daylight on the sidewalks in an attempt to shut down the documentary. Mayor James paints himself as a political villain more despicable than Senator Joseph Paine from "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". The scary part is that the film is not fictional. Had it not been recorded on film, you would not believe it. It's not often that a film angers me. This one did.Booker tries to campaign on the issues, but we see how effective James' tactics are. Both candidates are Black, but Mayor James constantly refers to Booker as light-skinned and "white" because Booker was educated at Stanford, Yale Law School and was a Rhodes Scholar. Looking at the numerous dirty tricks employed in the campaign, it is no wonder that Sharpe James has never lost an election. Although Booker loses the election, he wins the moral battle and the audience by running an ethical and admirable campaign. The closing scene is Booker's unveiling of his 2006 campaign, which received an ovation from the Tribeca audience.