Anytown, USA tells the story of a particularly heated mayoral race in the small town of Bogota, New Jersey. Director Kristian Fraga captures the essence of small town life in Bogota extremely well, using the camera angles and film score to make viewers invested in the election. The use of footage from local news broadcasts and newspaper headlines moves the film through developments in the race, and also work to make the viewer feel at home in Bogota.
As a student of political science -- and particularly as one who is fascinated by campaigns and elections -- "Anytown USA" offered a great example of just how important (and how contentious) local politics can be. In many ways, the issues facing Bogota are issues universally facing towns big and small across America (hence the film's title). Whether to make athletic funding a priority and fire teachers, or regionalize and lose municipal control are issues that many localities have to deal with. The perceived corruption of the "establishment" candidate and the hope offered by the young, fresh-faced write-in candidate is similarly a universal phenomenon in politics. In this way, when I think of Bogota and the apparency of elevated levels of political involvement by local citizens, I think of Iowa, the site of the first presidential nominating contests (and the destination of many of my weekend roadtrips for school).
I'm not going to turn this review into a dissertation on US electoral politics, but I will say that "Anytown, USA" reminds me why I love politics. It teaches the power of people, of organizing, of ideas, and of change. But "Anytown, USA" also reminds us that change is hard, and failure is a part of life. The film just happens to do it in such a way that made me laugh, made me mad, made me cry.