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Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Excellent, smart action film.

Better Late Then Never

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

American Blackout is an incredibly enlightening documentary and it is very well made. What is so shockingly exposed is the rampant racism and outright criminality that pervades every aspect of the American Political system.I don't feel this film is in any way insincere or short with the truth. It simply shows first hand the abuses that certain Americans face when they want to perform their inalienable rights. This is not solely about race but rather epidemic corruption. The black electorate being deprived of their votes is simply one of the many tools by which the Bush administration can consolidate its power and wealth. Cynthia McKinney was not political lynched because she is black but rather because she questioned the Bush administration and their knowledge of the attacks on 9/11. The fact that American blacks are constantly maligned and disenfranchised in modern America is appallingly obvious. The treatment of blacks in New Orleans being a perfect example. What is so striking is how little integration seems to have worked in America and how separatism is the given norm. Racism seems to have become an even greater problem than it has ever been before and part of the responsibility for this sorry state of affairs has to rest at the feet of the intolerant and insuppressible Bush administration.I absolutely recommend this well-made documentary but I assume it has a small but enlightened audience.

Democracy is heralded as the core of America's greatness. We claim to respect and revere it so much that we try to export it to other countries, albeit with disastrous results. Strangely, while Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and others continue acting as cheerleaders for democracy abroad, the majority of Americans do not even realize that the "democratic" 2000 and 2004 elections in the United States were stolen through diabolically clever schemes worthy of a fictional feature film; the only thing is, this actually happened. Through various tricks and illegal maneuvering, Black, Latino and working class voters were disenfranchised in enormous numbers, which ended up giving Bush the slight advantage he needed in both races to come away victorious. The movie doesn't end there, it tells the story of the attacks on Cynthia McKinney due to her outspoken criticism of the policies of the Bush administration and the questions she asked after September 11th. Everyone needs to hear this story. America's democracy is in a sad state of affairs my friends. This documentary lays it all out there. It should be requiring viewing in all schools. It will infuriate you and hopefully make you want to take some action to change things. 10 out of 10

This was one of the best documentaries I've seen in a while. I missed it at Sundance and sat between two people on the plane who had seen it and were having a lively conversation about it, which only furthered my interest. When I saw that it would be showing at the San Francisco International Film Festival, I went into it thinking, OK, I'm finally going to see what this is all about, and I came out totally blown away. Going into this, I knew about the Florida voter fraud in the 2000 election, I had a slight understanding of who Cynthia McKinney was, and I knew less about the Ohio voter fraud in the 2004 election. Wow, I was really missing out on some serious issues that were taking place in this country -- issues that get to the absolute root of who and what we are as a quote-unquote democratic country. Our elections are being rigged as badly as any un-democratic country out there. The film itself is very well done, as is the music. Nice job all around.

This is a strong statement about the problems encountered during the last four national elections. It effectively addresses these by focusing on House Representative Cynthia McKinney's travails as she butts heads with the Powers That Be.It's a strong message about voting and voting rights, showing how politics are always played with the electorate; this time it's the Republicans, but it's so true of either of the major parties. A significant point in Inaba's documentary is how NOT VOTING BENEFITS THE POWERS THAT BE. Irregularities in the last four elections are highlighted, with McKinney's in-out-and-back in journeys providing a focal point.Some of the facts will only be known to political cogniscenti; people who worked the elections and saw first-hand how minority voters were effectively disenfranchised (often abetted by "minority" politicos who both made rulings on the elections and acted as party leaders in their own states (e.g. Harris in Florida and Blackwell in Ohio).And aside from a short but interesting foreshadowing of McKinney's tendency to believe in her own self-importance and its subsequent (and recent) self-inflicted wounds from her own hubris, this movie still has relevance. It should show up again this fall before the 2006 elections, in primarily a grassroots mode. See it. Get upset. And then go out and help with the vote. And vote.