Street Fight (2005)
Marshall Curry Productions

Description

Oscar-nominated STREET FIGHT chronicles the bare-knuckles race for mayor of Newark, N.J. between Cory Booker, a 32-year old Rhodes Scholar/Yale Law School grad, and Sharpe James, the four-term incumbent twice his age.

The film follows Booker as he campaigns through Newark's housing projects and squares off against an old-style political machine - the kind now vanished from most of America - which uses police and code inspectors to crush opponents. By election day, the climate becomes so heated that the Federal government is forced to send in observers to watch for cheating and violence.

The battle sheds light on important American questions about democracy, poverty and - perhaps most important - race. In a surprising twist for an election between two African-Americans, the mayor accuses Booker of not being "really black," causing voters to examine how we define race in this country. "We tell our children to get educated," one Newarker says, "and when they do, we call them white. What kind of a message does that send?"

STREET FIGHT tells a story of democracy that is very different from those stories presented in campaign films like THE WAR ROOM or JOURNEYS WITH GEORGE. In Newark, elections are not about spin-doctors and media consultants staging photo ops. In Newark, it is said, elections are won and lost in the streets.

Tags

Oscar nomination, 2000s, Elections, USA, New Jersey

Collected reviews and ratings

10 Variety | John Anderson

"Street Fight" is briskly edited, scored imaginatively by James Baxter and vastly entertaining; despite the depresssing things it says about America -- there's too much going on to get depressed. Even if you know the outcome, "Street Fight" will keep you on the edge of your seat.
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10 Los Angeles Times | Kevin Crust

A refreshing shift from the red state-blue state paradigm that has marked most U.S. political documentaries since 2000, Marshall Curry's sharp-eyed, Oscar-nominated "Street Fight" maps the no-holds-barred battle between two African American Democrats for the mayoralty of Newark, N.J., in 2002.
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10 San Francisco Chronicle | Neva Chonin

"Street Fight" is a cultural snapshot, capturing of a climate in which competition has become thuggery, calumny has replaced debate and realpolitik has degenerated into reality politics. Sadly, it also captures how eagerly an uninformed public gobbles up the theatrics like the latest installment of "Survivor: Newark." It should be required viewing before every election.
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10 Old School Reviews | John Nesbit

What Curry’s hand held camera does capture is a remarkably candid and vivid portrait of this notably nasty contest--a primer for any aspiring politician to see the worst of what he can expect.
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9.0 Amazon user reviews

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.
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9.0 Salon.com | Andrew O'Hehir

Curry can't do much to get below the surface of this explosive topic, or to represent the point of view of James' supporters. That said, it's an electrifying, suspenseful film, full of street-level political drama.
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9.0 documentaryfilms.net | Bryan Newbury

Actually, much of Marshall Curry’s film Street Fight borders on what could best be termed “accidental excellence.” Not that Curry isn’t a gifted filmmaker with an eye for gripping political drama. Not that this feeling permeates viewing the film. It is only upon reflection that one thinks to himself, “He seems to have stumbled into it.”
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8.8 The Onion A.V. Club | Nathan Rabin

It's remarkable how much corruption, boorishness, and all-around bad behavior voters will tolerate if they feel like their ethically challenged representatives are making good on promises to their constituency. "Throw the bums out!" is a reformers' mantra, but the perennially high re-election rates for incumbents illustrates that when offered a choice, voters tend to go with the devils they know.
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8.8 Combustible Celluloid | Jeffrey M. Anderson

There's no question which side Curry favors, but he turns Street Fight into an old fashioned political yarn, featuring hand-pumping and baby-kissing, but also a dash of blood fury.
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8.0 filmcritic.com | Chris Barsanti

Street Fight is an amazing work, thrilling and informative in equal amounts, reminding us that democracy isn’t just fought over on message boards and foreign battlegrounds, but also on our very streets. Right here.
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8.0 DVD Talk | Randy Miller III

In a sea of small print and button pushing, it's refreshing to see another straightforward and honest look at the underbelly of American politics. It's this directness that keeps Marshall Curry's Street Fight interesting and exciting from start to finish, giving viewers a front row seat of an underdog's campaign against a seemingly fixed system.
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7.0 allmovie | Mark Deming

A hotly contested political race generates a wealth of drama in this documentary from filmmaker Marshall Curry.
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