In 2019, Rachel Lears electrified Sundance with “Knock Down the House,” a fly-on-the-wall look at a group of progressive candidates hoping to ride grassroots campaigns to Washington.
That film, which played like cri de coeur while the Trump administration was at the height of its power, also benefitted from capturing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez while she was still a bartender turned upstart congressional hopeful, a bit of kismet that resulted in a $10 million sale to Netflix.Three years later, Lears returns to Sundance in a different key with “To the End.” It’s a more somber look at a group of activists who are trying to do everything possible to pressure the U.S.
government to get serious about combatting the climate crisis.
If “Knock Down the House” ended more triumphantly with Ocasio-Cortez being ushered in to a position of great influence, “To the End” premieres as President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda is being held in limbo,
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