Film

Knock Down the House

A backstage pass to the 2018 midterms, following four insurgent, underfunded women — including a Bronx bartender named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — as they take on entrenched incumbents. It's scrappy, hopeful, and unabashedly on their side, less a balanced political analysis than a rallying cry with excellent editing instincts for suspense you already know the outcome of.

TMDb rating7.1

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Boys State2020

Teenagers build a mock government in Texas and it plays exactly like a real campaign — ambition, tribalism, a surprising amount of heart. Same electric feeling of watching democracy get reinvented from scratch.

But The politics-as-theater angle can feel a touch too cute, and some viewers find the boys grating rather than charming.

Boys State poster

The War Room1993

The gold standard of campaign documentaries, following Clinton's 1992 war room in real time. War stories, chaos, and the origin point for basically every campaign doc since.

But It's about seasoned professionals winning, not underdogs fighting the odds — a very different emotional register.

The War Room poster

Street Fight2005

A young Cory Booker takes on a corrupt Newark machine in his first mayoral run. Same insurgent-versus-establishment shape, with even higher stakes and dirtier tactics on camera.

But It's rawer and angrier, with less triumph — the ending isn't the happy one you might want.

Street Fight poster

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Primary1960

Every intimate, handheld campaign-trail shot in Knock Down the House descends directly from this film's invention of direct cinema — watch the ancestor of the form.

The film that invented this whole genre: Robert Drew's cameras follow JFK and Hubert Humphrey through the Wisconsin primary with no narration, no talking heads, just raw proximity to the grind.

But Silent-era energy by comparison — no music cues, no emotional shaping, just unadorned footage that demands patience.

Primary poster
More like this (8)

RBG2018

A crowd-pleasing portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's improbable rise, for anyone who wants another dose of an underestimated woman changing the system from inside.

But It's hagiographic and safe, more legacy tribute than tense character study.

RBG poster

All In: The Fight for Democracy2020no page yet

Stacey Abrams anchors a wider look at voter suppression, connecting one candidate's story to the machinery working against candidates like her. Sharpens the stakes of Knock Down the House considerably.

But It's heavier on history and policy explainer than on the personal, campaign-trail intimacy you might be craving.

Represent2020no page yet

Three women run for local office in the Midwest — mayor, school board — proving the same insurgent energy exists far from Congress. Quieter, more granular, just as moving.

But Lower stakes and a slower pace than a congressional race; less of a nail-biter.

Slay the Dragon2019no page yet

A deep dive into gerrymandering that explains exactly why races like the ones in Knock Down the House are so hard to win in the first place. Infuriating and clarifying.

But It's more wonky and structural, light on the personal underdog narrative that makes the original sing.

Mitt2014no page yet

An intimate, years-spanning look at Romney's two presidential runs, showing the toll and tedium of campaigning from the other side of the aisle and the income bracket.

But Almost too sympathetic to a losing establishment candidate — a strange fit if you came for insurgent energy.

Weiner2016

A jaw-dropping fly-on-the-wall documentary about a campaign self-destructing in real time. Proof of how thin the line between triumph and disaster really is.

But It's a trainwreck, not an inspiration — cringe-comedy tragedy rather than uplift.

Weiner poster

The Candidate1972

Same insurgent-versus-machine structure, but told as fiction so it can go somewhere a documentary about real candidates can't: showing what winning might cost them.

Robert Redford plays an idealistic outsider recruited to run for Senate, watching his principles erode scene by scene as the machine reshapes him. Sharp, cynical, still bracingly relevant.

But It's fiction, and a bleaker one — no rousing real-world victory waiting at the end, just an unsettling final line.

The Candidate poster

Veep2012

The exact opposite mirror: Knock Down the House shows earnest outsiders trying to fix the system; Veep shows the insiders who'd eat them alive, same institution, opposite faith in it.

A savagely funny sitcom about the venal, petty, profanity-laced machinery of American politics, seen from deep inside Washington's ego and incompetence.

But Pure cynicism with zero uplift — if you want to believe politics can be noble, this show will actively fight you on it.

Veep poster

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City Hall, The War Room, Boys State, Primary, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Get Me Roger Stone, Miss Sloane, Weiner, Hail Satan?, Street Fight