Brock Stone, a career Navy petty officer, is at risk of losing his job due to the new precedent set by Trump that transgender people cannot be in the military. Josh Block and Chase Stragio represent him. Dale Ho goes around the country to fight against the racist voting rights laws that are increasing in popularity across the country. He says, “If I’m not going to be a civil rights lawyer right now, in this moment, then when?” Lee Gelernt is fighting against the separation of immigrant children from parents. These children were famously put in “tender age” shelters. Over 2,000 children were separated, and God knows what sort of trauma they’ll face later on. Gelernt says, “medical evidence is overwhelming that we may be doing permanent harm to these kids.”
We get a tour of the ACLU office in New York and see the copious amounts of hate mail they receive. We also hear abusive voice messages, one left for Strangio says, “obviously you’re a little gay fa***t,” and another directed at Gelernt says, “I wanna know under what law I can shoot the Mex-invaders.” With these winners on his team, no wonder Donald Trump feels so emboldened. We also get to see how strong a force the ACLU is and how necessary they are for us in this country, especially under an administration that has been hell-bent on taking away the civil liberties of minority populations. They truly are fighting The Fight, the good fight, the fight that will hopefully be over in January 2021.
“…a fantastic documentary highlighting the real heroes out there…”
Obviously, if you are conservative, you might want to stay away from this film unless you want to see “how the other side lives.” Most conservatives don’t and won’t see this when as usual, they are the ones who need to. So they can know what their orange hero is really up to, and the personal repercussions his actions have on real people. However, I know through my own experience that it is pretty much impossible to convert people politically unless you have far more patience than I ever will.
The Fight is a fantastic documentary highlighting the real heroes out there: the overworked attornies of the ACLU. It’s good to know that regardless of who is in the White House, they will be there to help the ones who commonly get left behind. We only see a microcosm because of how much work the ACLU does all the time, but we get a clear idea of what they’re working on daily. I have great respect for them. After watching, you will, too. Thanks to directors Eli B. Despres, Josh Kriegman, and Elyse Steinberg for telling their story. It’s one that definitely needs to be told.
The Fight screened at the 2020 AFI Docs.
"…most conservatives don't and won't see this when as usual, they are the ones who need to."
