Dark Money

Name: Dark Money
Genre: Documentary
Released: July 13, 2018
Duration: 99 min
Rating: 72

2018

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Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews

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Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

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7.9	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

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Dark Money

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Movie Details & Credits

PBS | Release Date: July 13, 2018 | TV-14

Summary: Dark Money, a political thriller, examines one of the greatest present threats to American democracy: the influence of untraceable corporate money on our elections and elected officials. The film takes viewers to Montana—a frontline in the fight to preserve fair elections nationwide—to follow an intrepid local journalist working to exposeDark Money, a political thriller, examines one of the greatest present threats to American democracy: the influence of untraceable corporate money on our elections and elected officials. The film takes viewers to Montana—a frontline in the fight to preserve fair elections nationwide—to follow an intrepid local journalist working to expose the real-life impacts of the US Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. Through this gripping story, Dark Money uncovers the shocking and vital truth of how American elections are bought and sold. … Expand

Director: Kimberly Reed

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: TV-14

Runtime: 99 min

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Critic Reviews

Leah Greenblatt

Jul 19, 2018

Kimberly Reed’s taut documentary is also damning, clear-eyed, and as gripping as any John Grisham thriller. Read full review

The Film Stage Dan Mecca

Jul 11, 2018

Fast and furious in its information and interviews, this documentary is engaging from minute one, rarely letting the viewer off the hook. Read full review

Kenneth Turan

Jul 26, 2018

No one has to see a documentary to understand that large sums of untraceable political campaign contributions are a bad thing. But Dark Money does need to be seen because it reveals with fascinating specificity how that crooked system works and details how one state decided to take it on. Read full review

Gary Thompson

Jul 18, 2018

[An] informative documentary. Read full review

Alan Ng

Aug 30, 2018

Dark Money does succeed in presenting a strong case for campaign finance reform. Read full review

Marjorie Baumgarten

Aug 1, 2018

The film’s basic problem is that it jumps around too much, with an array of speakers from Montana to Washington, D.C. to California. Read full review

Manohla Dargis

Jul 12, 2018

Ms. Reed has taken on a vital story in Dark Money, which is why it’s frustrating that her storytelling isn’t better. Some introductory text or explanatory narration would have better helped historically ground viewers, who need to juggle a lot of information. Read full review

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HollywoodGlee

Nov 27, 2019

Director Kimberly Reed (Prodigal Sons, Paul Goodman Changed My Life), weaves and bobs through a heavyweight political fight with her latest film, Dark Money.

Dark Money opens with a gaggle of geese and a news report stating the number of dead geese is higher than thought followed by someDirector Kimberly Reed (Prodigal Sons, Paul Goodman Changed My Life), weaves and bobs through a heavyweight political fight with her latest film, Dark Money.

Dark Money opens with a gaggle of geese and a news report stating the number of dead geese is higher than thought followed by some interesting aerial shots of a large swath of strip-mined land. With some montage editing, the mise-en-scene changed to black and white with an assortment of old mining photos, including the Anaconda Copper Company operations what seems to be a familiar voice-over (I thought it was Jesse Ventura - I was wrong).

To me, the opening seemed a little choppy as the next sequence revealed a farmer lamenting some malfunctioning plow implement - only the farmer turned out to be a U.S. Senator, Jon Tester, from the state of Montana. Well, that got my attention. His description of the way he carries out his vocation sounded as though he were the legendary Roman statesman, Cincinnatus. This was not a very flattering portrait of Senator Tester. Fortunately, Senator Tester, like the film, looked and got better as the film progressed.

Reed lays down some nice background material with archival photos and overlays before getting into the essence of Dark Money. Several Montana state officeholders hold ordinary jobs and share their advocacy for political engagement. Another political candidate laments his inability to respond to a series of political ads that flooded mailboxes and media three days before the election linking the candidate to John Wayne Gacy, an American serial killer, and rapist. The ads were run by Mothers Against Child Predators and ran in a predominantly Catholic area. Upon inquiry, no one could determine who Mothers Against Child Predators were. After extensive investigation, it was determined that two women sent out the ads as part of a political process to gain access to seats in state government offices and the state judiciary.

I noticed a nice non-diegetic score mimicking a racing heart as a narrative voice-over from Ann Ravel, a Federal Election Commissioner, who uncovered how groups like Mothers Against Predators operate while hiding where their money comes from. Reed moves the setting from rural Montana to the nation's Capital. Seemingly, Reed is alluding to the real seat of power and then juxtaposes the Capital with a little house with a sign that reads "Commissioner of Political Practices."

Interestingly, Montana presently has a Citizen Legislature after a corrupt political past primarily associated with the Anaconda Mine. The Anaconda Mine site is one of the largest Super Fund cleanup sites in the world. According to a diegetic docent the Anaconda financed the Industrial Revolution. Yet, the trade-off is that it is home to the greatest potential disaster threatening the Northwest as the toxic wastewater sitting at the head of the Columbia River is so acidic that a gaggle of geese who lost their way and settled onto the Anaconda pit perished.

In 1912, Montana passed the Corrupt Practices Act. This law was held in place until the United Citizens decision by the United States Supreme Court allowed dark money into elections. Proponents celebrated the decision as a win for free speech.

Later, Reed supplies footage of a Russian-style town hall meeting called by American Tradition Partnership. The goal is to get rid of all disclosure, all regulation, and all truth-in-advertising mandates so corporations can dictate policy and influence government by manipulating the voting populace just as the Anaconda Mining Company had done a century earlier.

Thanks to a laid-off investigative reporter, John Adams, who lost his job when the state news bureau was disbanded, corruption is uncovered in a series of American Tradition Partnership emails with evidence of illegal direct mailings. A trial is held pinning a state legislature with violations of the Montana Disclose Act. He is fined. And, much like the Trump Administration Cabinet appointees, he claimed during the hearing he didn't know anything about the coordinated in-kind contributions he received from dark money groups.

Fortunately, Reed doesn't stop here. A link is made between the inaction of the Federal Elections Commission and its failure to require foreign government political contributions to be reported. Also, Reed slips in a call to action in the form of followthemoney.org.

Dark Money is an interesting film as it delves into what dark money is, how it can affect political campaigns and how foreign governments are using it to influence the outcome of electoral processes - until ultimately controlling the United States Supreme Court. Highly recommended.… Expand

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