If you’re at all connected to the contemporary world — and since you’re reading a film-centered publication, I’ll assume that’s a “yes” — and have any political interests, there’s a pretty strong chance you have some opinion of Bernie Sanders. Whether he’s leading a revolution for the people, a spittle-flecked nut capturing the attention of an easily swayed and overly reactionary generation, somewhere between those spaces, or not emblematic of any of them — the list goes on and on — he’s caught your attention.
To the surprise of precisely zero people, this progressive politician who proudly touts his Brooklyn roots has earned the favor of Spike Lee — so much so, in fact, that the filmmaker’s created a five-minute campaign ad. We’re not posting this as an endorsement of Sanders — who, exactly, even needs to know how any of us are leaning? — but because it’s a strong piece of filmmaking and as direct a statement as anything Lee’s made in years. Mixing celebrity voices (Harry Belafonte, Tessa Thompson, Susan Sarandon, Alan Cumming, Gaby Hoffmann, and Rosario Dawson all appear) with sundry political perspectives, it either carries a real charge or induces eye-rolls. Or, again, maybe neither.
Watch it below, along with an extended interview between filmmaker and subject: