And She Could Be Next (TV)
The two-part documentary, “And She Could Be Next” (currently on PBS), is something of a fly-on-the-wall look at the 2018 midterm elections. It takes a larger look at the midterms, and their importance at that point of the first term of Donald Trump as President, but it looks at it through the prism of a handful of races, throughout the country. We are on the election trail with Stacey Abrams, Rashida Tlaib, Lucy McBath, Bushra Amiwala, Maria Elena Durazo and Veronica Escobar, as they run as women of color in a country that has, historically, had very few hold significant office. They are all part of the “Blue Wave” that occurred during the midterms, even though not everyone of them won their races, as well as a reckoning with racial biases that Trump’s presidency has laid bare as still, very much, existing in this US. That all of them did as well as they did, even if Abrams and Amiwala lost, is a credit to not just these women, but the way they organized their campaigns to get out the vote, sometimes against intense racial prejudices, sometimes including intense campaigns to take away the vote, as Abrams faced against Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who was her opponent, as well as overseeing the election process himself.
The women directors Grace Lee and Marjan Safinia chose to cover in this documentary- where Part 1 covers through the primaries, and Part 2 covers the run up to the November election, and its aftermath- are the prime reason we remain engaged in their film(s) here; their passion for politics, drive to not only win but be a part of the process, and enthusiasm to represent their communities, and fight for all communities, is infectious. We feel as though we are a part of their respective races all the way through, and feel the highs and lows of each campaign, and see how they will progress in the process after the election is over, always fighting for what they think is right. I’m not sure whether this needed to be split into two parts, since it feels as though the second part is basically just a repeat of the first in terms of the way the narrative moves forward, but I would not want to see any of these women’s journeys given less time over any other one to try and condense this story down, either. That’s a credit to these women, and it’ll be exciting to see which women they have inspired in the future to do the same thing they are here.
