Citizen Koch (2013)

Citizen Koch: Directed by Carl Deal, Tia Lessin. With David H. Koch, Charles G. Koch, Scott Walker, Floyd Abrams. A documentary that follows the money behind the rise of the Tea Party.

“The Supreme Courtu0026#39;s 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission decision, a true product of the activist, conservative-dominated Roberts Court, has freed up big corporate money as a direct influence in American politics as never before. We need a documentary about this disastrous change. But while fast-moving and colorful, this new film isnu0026#39;t quite that documentary. Things start off badly with the title, u0026#39;Citizen Koch,u0026#39; more provocative than descriptive. You may think of New Yorku0026#39;s former mayor, Ed Koch (rhymes with u0026quot;crotchu0026quot;). But whatu0026#39;s meant is the Koch (rhymes with u0026quot;pokeu0026quot;) brothers, the ga-zilllionaire right-wing siblings (plural, not singular) whose exercise of vast campaign-buying powers is a prime example of Citizens Unitedu0026#39;s effect. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIs this movie about the Koch brothers? Not quite, and certainly not exclusively. It throws a lot of things at us right off, as if weu0026#39;re supposed to guess what itu0026#39;s about. First thereu0026#39;s Sarah Palin touting the Tea Party in Wisconsin. Jump to Obama being sworn in a year and a half later in Washington after winning the election. Next, we glimpse virulent, hateful reactions from right wing media to the new administration and its leader. Then, we see David Koch of Koch Industries address an audience about his and his brother Charlesu0026#39;s Americans for Prosperity. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIs u0026#39;Citizen Kochu0026#39; about the Supreme Court decision, or the Tea Party and Obama opposition, or about the Koch brothers? Yes, it touches on all of those, and more than the Koch brothers, on many very rich donors to promote right-wing candidates. But mainly it winds up being about Tea Party Republican Scott Walker of Wisconsin, elected Governor in part through contributions from the Koch brothers (and their like). Walker immediately sets out to destroy pensions and unions in the state. In doing this, he arouses a lot of grass roots Republican, labor, and progressive opposition. They grow so strong, they succeed in mounting an election to recall Walker. This signals a big popular revolt. But then, thanks to massive financial backing, again from the Koch brothers (and others like them), Walker manages to beat the recall vote and stay in office. This is the filmu0026#39;s main trajectory. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhatever all this means for you, what filmmakers Deal and Lessin excel at here is following day-to-day details of electoral politics and citizensu0026#39; protests, both Tea Party support and grass roots Republican Walker opposition. They do this through tracking a few colorful individuals and scenes on the street, at home, or at work. They follow Wisconsinu0026#39;s opposition to the new Governor through four outraged grassroots Republicans who oppose him: a teacher, prison guard, nurse, plus the nurseu0026#39;s husband, a Harley Davidson repairman first-time voter who vividly comments on the sidelines. The film gives us brief but pungent looks at the lives, views, and political activities of these four people, and this is u0026#39;Citizen Kochu0026#39;su0026#39; human heart. The film never delves deeply into the activities of the Koch brothers, delineating, rather, a lot of contributions from rich out-of-state donors to the campaign to keep Walker in office. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026#39;Citizen Kochu0026#39; touches on events that are, in the aggregate, highly significant. But the filmu0026#39;s treatment of these events, though lively and fast-moving, suffers from its confusion of focus. It continually seeks to juggle its three balls: Walkeru0026#39;s anti-union Tea Party rule; his growing grass roots Republican opposition, and, a dim third in the background, u0026quot;Citizenu0026quot;(sic)Koch, the Koch brothers and their use of limitless personal money to save Scott Walker from recall, symbolizing the defeat of the democratic process through paid advertising. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis film has been called u0026quot;agitpropu0026quot; but itu0026#39;s really more a collage, the term u0026quot;agitpropu0026quot; used because itu0026#39;s fast, loud, and crude, its message and structure not quite clear. For true agitprop, go to Americau0026#39;s most famous muckraking filmmaker, Michael Moore. But Moore does this sort of thing so much better that there is no ground for comparison. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOther examples of successful engagé documentaries are Charles Fergusonu0026#39;s devastating 2010 attack on post-Great Recession Wall Street, u0026#39;Inside Jobu0026#39;; Fergusonu0026#39;s earlier 2007 u0026#39;No End in Sight,u0026#39; about the lack of planning behind the US 2003 invasion of Iraq; Errol Morris Vietnam War deconstruction based on an interview with Robert McNamara, u0026#39;The Fog of War,u0026#39; Alex Gibneyu0026#39;s study of post-9/11 cruelty, u0026#39;Taxi to the Dark Side;u0026#39; Adam Curtisu0026#39; sweeping study of post-9/11 political paranoia, u0026#39;The Power of Nightmaresu0026#39;; the team of Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbottu0026#39;s u0026#39;The Corporationu0026#39; — the latter, highly relevant to Deal and Lessinu0026#39;s subject matter because it refers to the ruling that corporations have rights like people. These are all documentaries that take a clear stand and support it with rigorous logic, strong structure, and rich documentation. Good as they all are, though, they canu0026#39;t match the effect Michael Moore had with u0026#39;Bowling for Columbineu0026#39; and u0026#39;Sicko.u0026#39; Making a good political documentary may involve agitprop, but it also requires a lot of work, plus passion, a willingness to be provocative, good and lucky timing, a marshaling of the facts, and great organizational skill. These do not seem entirely present in u0026#39;Citizen Kochu0026#39;. Itu0026#39;s a documentary that presents material well worth knowing about, but like too many films of this sort, it seems in some ways a bit of a mess. Some of its quick portraits of the grassroots folks are priceless, however.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026#39;Citizen Kochu0026#39; was to have been presented on PBS but was scuttled by the network, reportedly due to pressure from rich sponsors, including the Koch brothers. It lost ITVS funding, robbing it of its u0026quot;Independent Lensu0026quot; series slot. This brought protests in New York. The filmmakers launched a Kickstarter campaign instead which has been successful, and the filmu0026#39;s theatrical release rolls out through dozens of cities till early September 2014. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026#39;Citizen Kochu0026#39; debuted at Sundance January 2013, also showed at DOC NYC that November. It was was released at IFC Center, NYC 6 June 2014 to mixed reviews (Metacritic average 53%).”