Slay the Dragon

Gerrymander: a very strange word uniquely linked to United States politics. Look it up if you are interested about its actual definition. Or, you can get an in depth definition in an interesting, entertaining and sometimes distressing way in the documentary feature, “Slay the Dragon.”

Laura's Review: B

The film is of a kind and good companion to the 2018 documentary "Dark Money."

Robin's Review: B

The term “gerrymander” came to be a part of our political fabric when it was coined in 1812 and named after Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry. Since then, it has been, unfortunately, used to redraw state and US congressional districts to favor, unfairly, one party over another.

Documentary producers-turned-directors Chris Durrance and Barak Goodman, turn their insightful eye to an examination of gerrymandering and its effect on the American political system. The focus of the film is on dragon slayer Katie Fahey, founder of Voters Not Politicians, to ban the partisan practice in Michigan and tells that organization’s story – with all of its downfalls and victories, from start to end.

While Katie and all the members of their organization are given the lion’s share of time in “Slay the Dragon,” the filmmakers take the time to explain, clearly, the history of gerrymandering. They also take their cameras around the country to other places where the problem has been, sometimes very imaginatively (in a morally disgusting way), executed and the results explained.

While the Republican Party has been, by far, the biggest user/offender of the practice of gerrymandering, the Democrats, too, have done their share of the practice that is offensive to the true fabric of our democracy. Let us hope that people like Katie Fahey and organizations like Voters Not Politicians can bring this to prominent national attention and end the practice forever. (Well, I can hope, can’t I?)