Counting on Democracy

Although it makes an occasional nod in the direction of objectivity, filmmaker Danny Schechter's documentary look at the voting problems that plagued Florida in the 2000 presidential election is basically a prolonged brief accusing the state--and in particular its partisan officials--of not only ineptitude but malfeasance in disenfranchising tens of thousands of voters, especially minorities. The film further charges the Bush campaign and the GOP party apparatus with deliberately subverting the effort to include all the ballots in the final tabulation, and takes the U.S. Supreme Court to task for hypocrisy and political maneuvering in deciding to halt the recount ordered by Florida justices. Narrated by husband-and-wife thespians Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, Counting on Democracy includes justifications from a few Bush supporters, but most of those interviewed are journalists and activists whose sympathies clearly lie with the Gore campaign, with the end result being that the film will be sure to please Democrats who remain convinced that the 2000 election was stolen, while infuriating Republicans who take umbrage at the charge. A powerful polemic (but one that in an educational setting should be supplemented by material from the opposite side of the spectrum for the sake of balance), this is recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)