Slay the Dragon

Name: Slay the Dragon
Genre: Documentary
Released: April 3, 2020
Duration: 101 min
Rating: 73
Cast: Anita Earls, Ari Berman, Chris Jankowski, Dale Schultz, David Daley

2020

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Generally favorable reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews

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Movie Details & Credits

Magnolia Pictures | Release Date (Streaming): April 3, 2020 | Not Rated

Starring: Anita Earls, Ari Berman, Chris Jankowski, Dale Schultz, David Daley, Justin Levitt, Katie Fahey, Margaret Dickson, Ruth Greenwood, Vann Newkirk

Summary: After the 2008 election, a secretive, well-funded partisan initiative poured money into state legislative races in key swing states to gain control of their redistricting processes and used high-tech analytics to dramatically skew voting maps based on demographic data. The result is one of the greatest electoral manipulations in U.S.After the 2008 election, a secretive, well-funded partisan initiative poured money into state legislative races in key swing states to gain control of their redistricting processes and used high-tech analytics to dramatically skew voting maps based on demographic data. The result is one of the greatest electoral manipulations in U.S. history, one that poses a fundamental threat to our democracy and exacerbates the already polarized atmosphere in Congress and state houses across the country. Gerrymandering, the practice of redrawing electoral maps to serve the party in power, has been around for centuries. But in today’s hyperpartisan political environment it has been taken to unprecedented extremes, fueled by the elimination of corporate campaign contribution limits and the availability of vast amounts of personal information. The effects of this insidious strategy have continued to bear fruit through the 2018 midterms. But voters, fed up with cynical efforts to sidestep the will of the majority, have begun fighting back. In one example, a grassroots movement led by a young woman with no political experience gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures to put an anti-gerrymandering initiative on the ballot in Michigan. The new documentary Slay the Dragon shines a light on this timely issue, and follows a handful of citizens’ groups, outraged by what they see as an attack on the core democratic principle that every person’s vote should count equally, as they battle party operatives and an entrenched political establishment to fix a broken system.… Expand

Director: Barak Goodman and Chris Durrance

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 101 min

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Critic Reviews

Owen Gleiberman

Apr 2, 2020

Slay the Dragon is an incisively made and morally suspenseful film, at once chilling and stirring. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Nell Minow

Apr 3, 2020

They hold our attention with skillful use of animation and other visuals, touches of wry humor, and brisk pacing, but it is the heroine at the heart of the film who gives us hope and perhaps inspiration to try some town halls, petitions, and lawsuits of our own to protect the voting rights that are essential for a just and trustworthy government. Read full review

Brian Lowry

Apr 3, 2020

Slay the Dragon does an extraordinarily good job of taking a complex issue and connecting the dots, which seems particularly appropriate for a documentary about gerrymandering. Read full review

Barry Hertz

Apr 1, 2020

A fascinating, frequently angry and occasionally darkly funny documentary. Read full review

Jake Coyle

Apr 2, 2020

May not be the most heartening portrait of our political system. But it’s a vital one and it provides reasons for optimism, too. Read full review

Ben Kenigsberg

Apr 2, 2020

Slay the Dragon is not short on outrage, and just because some of this material is not new doesn’t mean it’s not worth repeating. Read full review

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky

Mar 31, 2020

Slaying The Dragon is meant as an urgent call to action ahead of this year’s elections, and it is here that it really falters. Read full review

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