Search - American Blackout on DVD

An Amazing film starring a powerful woman

Z. Jilani | Georgia, USA | 09/22/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When you hear the name "Cynthia McKinney," it probably draws images of madness and lunacy. Why wouldn't it? After all, ever since she was elected to the Georgia state legislature, the media and moneyed forces across America have spent their time slandering her with every accusation possible. They don't want a woman who asks too many questions, who demands too often to stand by the downtrodden and oppressed. That's just dangerous.

This film explores the life and career of the Congresswoman as well as the voter suppression in 2000 and 2004. Congressman John Lewis is interviewed, and explains the struggles he went through as an activist to get voting rights for "colored" people -- only to have them being systematically stolen again through computerized voting machines and, as the BBC's Greg Palast calls it, "election apartheid."

What kind of liberal democracy are we living in when thousands are turned away from the polls because their district's voting records are controlled by rich people far away? What kind of nation are we living in when simply questioning the President's motives get you casted as a lunatic "conspiracy theorist" (to be vindicated years later when leaked documents show you were right)?

We need to make this a country "of the people, by the people, and for the people." McKinney will continue that fight, even as a non-legislator (although as the movie shows, she is well-capable of winning back her seat once a dirty campaign and Republican votes unseat her once).

Watch the film, educate yourself, and join the fight. We need to save any ounce of American democracy left."

Keeping Democracy Alive

Martin Shackelford | Saginaw, MI USA | 01/10/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Much publicity has been given to "hanging chads" and media-publicized details of what went wrong with the elections of 2000 and 2004, but votes vanish every election in America. This documentary, and Greg Palast's book American Madhouse, detail how it is done, and how it can be prevented. A must-see and must-read for everyone who believes in American democracy for all."

Easily the best documentary I saw in 2006

Atlas Moth | Tucson, AZ USA | 01/09/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one documentary that hasn't received the attention it deserves. To paraphrase journalist Greg Palast, the Democrats may have won in last year's mid-term elections, but the integrity of our elections lost again. The topic of 'American Blackout' is as timely as ever, as the last two presidential "elections" and the last two mid-term "elections" have demonstrated that the American public will sit idly by as election fraud destroys the last vestiges of their democracy.

This is also a good documentary to show to anyone who thinks the U.S. has solved most of its race problems. The neoconservatives revived Jim Crow in 2000 and 2004. Watch the deleted scenes on the DVD and you can also see how racist the Washington, D.C., police force is. Even if we no longer have de jure racism, if we have racist law enforcement, then we have de facto racism.

I could go on, but I think this documentary should speak for itself. Buy it. Watch it. Show it to your friends."

The more she grates, the more America needs people like her.

Lunchtime O' Boozle | UK | 03/22/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Cynthia McKinney is - like so few of her fellow politicians - clear, frank, honest and uncomprimising. She may rattle a few cages, upset some folks on the Hill, but America's children need to see people like her to realize that there is a way to buck the trend, to fight for yours and others rights and to do it selflessly.

Highly recommended. I especially liked the clips of a grotesquely coiffered Tucker Carlsen repleat with bow-tie (soooo tacky...) pontificating about the 'outrageous' Cynner. I often wonder if he ever had to take one for the team...."