“When you see something that’s not right … say something! Do something!” Lewis is shown saying, over and over, in speeches and appearances, advising his audience on the periodic need for “good trouble, necessary trouble.”
For Lewis, shown in his 20s as Freedom Rider, on the march in Washington and crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965, that has included lasting police beatings and dozens of arrests, some of which, he adds with irony, they occurred during His time in Congress.
“The reason he is effective as a leader is because he has lived it,” says the late Elijah Cummings, one of several colleagues in Congress, including Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Cory Booker. . – who provide perspective and anecdotes, along with Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Much is made, in a fun way, of the awe Lewis inspires among the people, acknowledging that meeting the 80-year-old lawmaker is essentially a direct link to some of the iconic events in United States history. An assistant says that walking through an airport with him takes much longer than the actual number of steps required.
Because Lewis became an activist at a young age, his biography is relatively short. The most prominent personal details, provided in part by Lewis’s brothers, surround his courtship and marriage to his wife, Lillian, who died in 2012.
Directed by Dawn Porter (“Bobby Kennedy for President”), the film’s strongest asset is inevitably the wide access enjoyed by Lewis himself, who speaks eloquently about the nation’s long road to justice and equality (“Still we are not there “), his emotional response to the election of Barack Obama and his commitment to fight for what he believes in (” As long as I have breath in my body, I will do what I can “).
Beyond never-before-seen material, the most intriguing interlude highlights Lewis’s 1986 campaign for his seat in the Georgia Congress against his friend and former civil rights activist Julian Bond. The sheer nature of that contest temporarily undid their relationship, they are shown conducting an awkward interview after the race, showing Lewis’s tougher side offering some balance to his sacred image.
For the most part, however, “Good Trouble” seems content to indulge in Lewis’s personality, which includes an elder statesman grandfather status allowing him to refer to Beto O’Rourke, the 47-year-old former Texas congressman. . and presidential candidate, like “this boy”.
“John Lewis: Good Trouble” will be available in select theaters and on demand beginning July 3.
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