Pay 2 Play (2014)

Сюжет кино: Product Description
PAY 2 PLAY follows filmmaker John Ennis quest to find a way out from under the Pay 2 Play System, the cycle where Politicians reward their donors with even larger sums from the public treasury -- through contracts, jobs, tax cuts, and deregulation. Along the way, he journeys through high drama on the Ohio campaign trail, uncovers the secret history of the game Monopoly, and explores the underworld of street art on a humorous odyssey that reveals how much of a difference one person can make. PAY 2 PLAY: Democracy s High Stakes is the layman s guidebook to taking back our democracy.
Pay 2 Play picks up where Ennis left off in his last film FREE FOR ALL, after his investigation into election fraud in Ohio led him to establish Video the Vote to watch the polls on Election Day. Ennis has recognized that by Election Day, so much has already happened to decide which candidates are or are not on the ballot, the result is surprisingly undemocratic. Driven by his need to make the world better for his newborn daughter to inherit, Ennis determines to study our road to elected office to find a way we can get out from under the Pay 2 Play System.
FEATURING: Robert Reich John Nichols Lawrence Lessig Noam Chomsky Jerry Springer Van Jones Marianne Williamson Jack Abramoff Thom Hartmann Marge Baker Mark Crispin Miller Bob Edgar Brad Friedman Lee Fang Jason Leopold Jessica Levinson Rashad Robinson Kathay Feng Ciara Torres-Spelliscy Robert Weissman Paul Hackett Subodh Chandra Surya Yalamanchili Ralph Anspach
Review
All over the place it may be -- jumping from the famous game of Monopoly to gerrymandering, street artists, ALEC, the work of those sleazy tools of the one per cent that make up the majority of our Supreme Court, the Koch brothers, a scandal named Coingate and a couple of riveting political campaigns you won't have heard of unless you're from Ohio -- but the new documentary PAY 2 PLAY, from filmmaker John Wellington Ennis, is also full of energy and intelligence and a heartfelt and necessary message that tells us to wake up and take control of our government. As we're told upfront and then again toward the finale, "It's not about left and right but instead about insiders and outsiders," the former of which are hellbent on never letting the latter in. The birth of Mr. Ennis' daughter (the filmmaker is shown at right) seems to have galvanized him into action, the result of which is this documentary, in which he admits that his little girl is almost sure not to have the good life that so many of us have shared up until now. He talks to some of the usual suspects, progressive variety, from Noam Chomsky (below) to Van Jones, while covering territory other docs have trod previously. Yet, as he bounces from one topic to the next, showing us the veritable orgy of greed and the plotting of the wealthy and corporate interests to increase their holdings against the work of a single person here and there and finally the coming together of the anti-Koch and Occupy movements and how this frightened the establishment into using anti-terrorist tactics to disperse peaceful protest, his theme of what a single person can accomplish begins to take on more meaning and resonance than is usual. His concentration on the game of Monopoly (and its newer counterpart Anti-Monopoly), along with how he substitutes the usual things we see on the Monopoly board with newer views, more appropriate to our current times, makes for some additional ironic fun. In a little aside, we also learn about the origin of the game (above). And it is not what you've probably been told via Parker Brothers. The film's finest sections are devoted to political campaigns in which some "unknowns" -- Paul Hackett, Subodh Chandra and Surya Yalamanchili (above) -- gets into the political fray, work hard and, by virtue of their courage and dedication, manage to go much farther than anyone expected. Not far enough, as it usually turns out, but From its outset and throughout, the theme of paying for influence is front and center, as the single thing most corrupt about our current political system, one that has only been made more encompassingly corrupt via recent Supreme Court decisions. (This movie is the most up-to-date so far, with references to both the recent McCutcheon and Hobby Lobby decisions.) Yet rather than taking a cynical, what's-the-use? attitude, Ennis insists that we and our work really matter. As former would-be politician Mr. Yalamanchili tells us, "It's always one ; By the time we see Ennis and his daughter beginning to play the Monopoly game, then switching to Anti-Monopoly, as he tries to explain his political rationale to the three-year old, we can only laugh -- and hope. Pay 2 Play is actually a very heartening movie. It opened yesterday, with almost no critical reviews to be seen. I wonder why? In any case, try to see this one, then think about what you, as one person, can do -- whether you're Tea Party or Progressive (and you two may be closer than you imagine). --TrustMovies
Citing the Citizens United case, the Hobby Lobby case, the Koch brothers, Occupy Wall Street, "stand your ground" and other trending topics of recent civil discourse, the documentary "Pay 2 Play" lays out a compelling case against corporate personhood and money as free speech. Filmmaker John Wellington Ennis uses as a case study Ohio's 2005 "Coingate," with Tom Noe making financial contributions to Republican candidates and receiving high-ranking government posts and $50 million in state funds for his high-risk rare-coins investment fund. The film also launches into Charles and David Koch's financial contributions to 1,053 winning candidates in the 2010 elections and the billionaire brothers' bankrolling of the American Legislative Exchange Council, the think tank that has masterminded thousands of pieces of legislation, among them anti-collective bargaining laws, voter ID laws and stand-your-ground laws. For an advocacy agitprop, the film has researched, sourced and interviewed exhaustively. The equal-opportunity Ennis expresses his distaste for both Democratic and Republican parties: Noam Chomsky here dubs them two factions of the Business Party. --LA Times
The only bad part about the documentary Pay 2 Play is that it s all happening. Part history lesson, part political refresher, and all horrible in its truth the game of Monopoly has come to life in the bones of the government. Director John Wellington Ennis sees the game that corporations and lobbyists are playing with the US government, and he s scared. He s scared for the future of our country, but mostly for his daughter s future. Unfortunately, as he quickly discovers, the bleak future he s so worried about is already here. Even though this documentary is only 90 min, it sums up a few of the biggest corruption scandals that have been uncovered in the last ten years in the federal government and in the political campaigns of Ohio. It s dense. There is so much information that if you re unfamiliar with anything political, it s probably overwhelming, in the same way that voting in primaries can be. Ennis makes the case that individual citizens can make a difference, and it starts with being informed. If you re into politics and have been following along with the Supreme Court s decisions the last few years, this documentary probably lacks depth, but it is tightly sewn in its approach and intent as a primer for understanding the perspective of groups like Occupy Wall Street and encouraging citizen education on political issues. Pay 2 Play argues that everyone, regardless of political position, should have an equal say in who represents him or her in the government. Ennis parallels the corruption scandals in Ohio and the infamous Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) case to the history of the game Monopoly. The guy with the most money wins, just like in the game. So what the heck does that have to do with politics today? Well, the Citizens United case opened the door to corporate and union campaign advocacy through media, including independent television advertisements and films. The filmmaker and his interviewees argue that this is a very bad thing because it allows specific agendas to get unfair and unbalanced attention in the media, while also pushing independent campaigns out of the running because they can t afford to advertise on a massive scale. If voters don t know you exist in the first place, you re hardline on specific issues and know nothing about others, or you live in an area that is severely gerrymandered, it s hard to make any changes happen in a region, let alone an entire country. Today, the person with the most money might not even be a person. Pay 2 Play is very obvious in its intentions. It is a call to action. It s a rallying cry from the left through art. The film wears its heart on its sleeve, following the very personal stories of the grassroots campaigns of Ohio Democratic congressional nominees, through their highs and lows since 2005. Ennis speaks to Jack Abramoff and Chomsky, too, but the focus is on the academics, artists, and politicians who eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff. Even though the documentary is heavily focused on the left s side, it also gives credit to the intelligence of the viewer. Much of the information given is meant to stir discussion and uses a modified Monopoly game board to make specific points and incite reaction. Ennis even shows what he has done to try and fight back for more fairness, including getting arrested for vandalism (AKA street art), turning a busy intersection into a Monopoly board, and listing his ideas for fixing the pay to play system. This film feels like a stream expanding into to a wider river of progress. While he may not have the platform of of Michael Moore or Citizens United, Ennis does draw a compelling reason to reexamine the way our political world works. --Brightest Young Things
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