Unprecedented - The 2000 Presidential Election - 2004 Campaign Edition

Starring:Peter Coyote, Clarence Thomas (II), Greg Palast, George W. Bush, John Lantigua, Mark Herron (II), Jamin Raskin, Ed Baker, John Nichols (VII), James Baker III, Kweisi Mfume, Rev. Thomas Johnson, Chris Sautter (II), Charles Lichtman, Jeb Bush, Sean Holton (III), Mark Seibel, Frank Keating, Alan M. Dershowitz, Warren Christopher
Director: Joan Sekler, Richard Ray Perez
Studio: Shout Factory
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
In the course of 47 provocative minutes, Unprecedented leaves little doubt that the 2000 presidential election was a mockery of justice. Focusing on rampant, court-sanctioned abuses of the democratic process in Florida, directors Richard Ray Perez and Joan Sekler present a thorough reexamination of the circumstances that allowed the election of George W. Bush, including the Gore campaign's fatal failure to request the state-wide recount to which the Democratic party was legally entitled. In particular, the political ambitions of Florida secretary of state Katherine Harris are exposed with devastating, irrefutable evidence of cronyism, including the Bush administration's post-election appointment of the son of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, whose support of Florida's haphazard election results was arguably a violation of his oath. Through it all, Florida's African American voters and discounted "felons" are victimized by a bureaucratic nightmare of exclusion, and uncounted votes remained officially in limbo. The film's liberal bias is obvious (it was executive produced by Robert Greenwald, the director of Outfoxed), but Unprecedented is ultimately an impassioned plea to Americans of every political affiliation: If you don't vote, you will further weaken the democratic principles that were so fatefully violated in Florida. --Jeff Shannon
Description
Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election is the riveting story about the battle for the presidency in Florida and the undermining of democracy in America. Filmmakers Richard Ray Perez and Joan Sekler examine modern America's most controversial political contest: the 2000 election of George W. Bush.

What emerges is a disturbing picture of an election marred by suspicious irregularities, electoral injustices, and sinister voter purges in a state governed by the winning candidate's brother. This 2004 Campaign Edition features new commentary by Danny Glover and a new segment on the dangers of electronic voting machines.

 Features new material, including commentary by Danny Glover and an update on electronic voting.

 Grand Festival award winner for documentary at the Berkeley Video and Film Festival.

 Route 66 award winner for Best Documentary Feature at the Winslow International Film Festival.

 Grand Jury Award Documentary and Directors Award Documentary at the New York International Independent Film Festival.

Amazon.com

In the course of 47 provocative minutes, Unprecedented leaves little doubt that the 2000 presidential election was a mockery of justice. Focusing on rampant, court-sanctioned abuses of the democratic process in Florida, directors Richard Ray Perez and Joan Sekler present a thorough reexamination of the circumstances that allowed the election of George W. Bush, including the Gore campaign's fatal failure to request the state-wide recount to which the Democratic party was legally entitled. In particular, the political ambitions of Florida secretary of state Katherine Harris are exposed with devastating, irrefutable evidence of cronyism, including the Bush administration's post-election appointment of the son of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, whose support of Florida's haphazard election results was arguably a violation of his oath. Through it all, Florida's African American voters and discounted "felons" are victimized by a bureaucratic nightmare of exclusion, and uncounted votes remained officially in limbo. The film's liberal bias is obvious (it was executive produced by Robert Greenwald, the director of Outfoxed), but Unprecedented is ultimately an impassioned plea to Americans of every political affiliation: If you don't vote, you will further weaken the democratic principles that were so fatefully violated in Florida. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election is the riveting story about the battle for the presidency in Florida and the undermining of democracy in America. Filmmakers Richard Ray Perez and Joan Sekler examine modern America's most controversial political contest: the 2000 election of George W. Bush.

• Features new material, including commentary by Danny Glover and an update on electronic voting.

• Grand Festival award winner for documentary at the Berkeley Video and Film Festival.

• Route 66 award winner for Best Documentary Feature at the Winslow International Film Festival.

• Grand Jury Award Documentary and Directors Award Documentary at the New York International Independent Film Festival.

• Audience Award for Best Documentary at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival.

Customer Reviews:

The true story behind an appalling miscarriage of justice.......2007-01-15

This brief documentary does a really good job at covering how the 2000 election was stolen and how thousands of eligible voters in good standing were turned away from the polls or had their names stricken from the voting rolls entirely. I find it incredibly frightening that the usual suspects are calling this film "propaganda" (since when is the truth propaganda?) and accusing those of us who are wise to what really happened of "whining." How nice to know that some Americans take the democratic process, and the integrity and responsibility that go along with it, so lightly. The film is far from some hysterical radical leftist propaganda piece; all of the people interviewed are calm, sane, and rational, and back up what they're saying with irrefutable proof. I guess my idea of a radical leftist differs greatly from that of a neo-con. It even points out shortcomings of Gore's side, such as saying that it wasn't right to have only demanded a recount of just 4 counties, but should have had a recount of the entire state, as per constitutional law. The recount wasn't about being bitter "losers" or wanting one candidate to win; it was about making sure that every vote counted and that the democratic process wasn't trodden upon. I was a junior in college during this time, and remember it as a very frustrating depressing time, unable to believe that something like this could happen in a democracy, that the U.S. Supreme Court would put a stop to the recount ordered by Florida's Supreme Court. Even more frustrating is how a lot of people, whatever side they were on, just don't care. Apathy is extremely dangerous in a democracy.

The subjects covered in the documentary include the outdated voting machines, untrustworthy new computerised voting machines, the various types of paper ballots that led to initial improper vote tallies, how thousands of names were stricken from the voting rolls, how a lot of the names on the lists of ex-felons being denied their constitutional right to vote after having served their time weren't even felons and had never even been arrested, how the civil rights of African-Americans were violated in scary shades of what happened before the Civil Rights Movement, how some of the pro-Bush protestors weren't Floridians but actually staff assistants to various Republican Senators and Congresspeople (one from as far away as Alaska), how these voting irregularities began even before 2000, and how Katherine Harris (the lovely woman who believes that electing non-Christians is tantamount to "legislating sin"), uncaring there was a serious conflict of interest due to having been on Bush's campaign, used her clout to order the recount stopped. These sorts of things aren't supposed to happen in a democracy, but sadly they did.

Though this is a great documentary and a good introduction to this awful time in recent American history, I wish it had been a bit longer. There were some subjects that I felt weren't covered in enough depth, or important subjects that weren't really covered at all. I would have liked, for example, to have seen more on the disenfranchisment of the African-American community and all of the Jewish votes that were mistakenly attributed to Buchanan. But unfortunately, this is just one of those films that is either dismissed out of hand by those who most need to see it, or continues to be met with angry ranting and propaganda, as though all of the unrefutable facts presented here mean absolutely nothing if they conflict with one's political agenda.

Important subject. Allow yourself to be the judge........2006-11-13

The DVD's principal point is that our current voting system has disturbing barriers and a shocking lack of safeguards. I'm not sure how exposing this danger can be considered unpatriotic or worthless by other reviewers?

As a result of the problems and situations shown in the DVD, citizens were deprived of voting rights and could not have confidence their vote counted; and there is no evidence this situation is completely corrected.
It also demonstrated that critical election officials with blatant conflicts of interest in the election process can also hold offices that directly influence the outcome of those elections on a massive scale.
This is like having a horse race where the judge owns a horse in the race and the judge is the only one who can watch the race happen.
Would you feel confident betting in a situation like this?

It's hard to believe this type of situation can exist in a country that claims it is the champion of democracy, but that's what the DVD is about and why I recommend it. Maybe you saw this information years ago in the news; however, this DVD is an important, timely reminder and really focuses your attention on important issues of democracy and voting.

This seems like a pretty serious issue, and most of the negative reviews seem like attempts to keep people from watching and becoming concerned. After watching this, anyone should be extremely concerned if not outright alarmed! I know I was, and I am generally skeptical by nature. The evidence is overwhelming and damning.

For those concerned that this is one sided, the DVD is surprisingly critical of Al Gore and the Democratic Party; and goes so far as to blame them as a significant part of the problem rather than victims. The documentary is certainly not "pro-Democratic Party", but is convincing that Republicans schemes and actions were anti-democracy.

The DVD also used freeze frames to identify names, occupation, and home state of Republican stooges flown in to pose as protesting Florida citizens. It's pretty amazing that the entire forefront of the protesting crowd was identified person by person with people from as far away as Alaska!

This has an eerie resemblance to the film "Meet John Doe" where planted anarchists upset Gary Cooper's political rally when he tries to be an honest politician, and that's the last thing people in control wanted in the movie. The similarity is one of the creepiest things I've seen in years.

This DVD brings up a valid concerns and topics for our nation.
I recommend the DVD to anyone; and don't forget to view the supplemental materials (a.k.a. "special features")! They deserve attention and contain extensive information and updates.

After reading other's comments, obviously many negative reviewers did not watch the entire DVD or special features since verified statements contradict their objections and arguments. This subject is too important to ignore.

Must See DVD for any person of Voting Age.......2006-07-14

Have you ever wondered what really happened in Florida during the 2000 presidential elections? Unprecented is an interesting documentary detailing the controversial election results and how the results played out in Florida. The dvd adresses voter irregularities, disenfranchisements, and voter purges practiced by the state of Florida, which were crucial to the outcome of the election. BBC journalist, Greg Palast, provides captivating commentary as he explains the events of the elections in Florida leading to President George W. Bush's first term in office. Unprecedented sheds light on common practices and problems associated with the American voting system. This dvd is a must see for any American of voting age!

A Very Eye Opening Film.......2006-05-30

I cannot believe how mean and down-dirty elections can get when they get too close. Does it tell us something about the election process. It needs to become kinder. Democracy can be great if we work a little harder at it. It can be done!

It would have been nice to see more opinions of those on the right...the film did seem to have a bit of a biased edge to it, like it was pushing an agenda. Good awareness piece though.

I just had to respond!.......2005-10-23

I have not yet seen this, but I am ordering it. So, why am I reviewing? Well, actually, I'm not.

I was reading some of the reviews and one of them listed some points. One of those points was unfactual, and as a Floridian, I feel I need to set it straight. Here is what the reviewer wrote: "2. There is a case that African American voters were turned away - however, where is the same case for the many Haitan American voters who were also turned away in droves, who are known to be sympathetic towards Republican causes."

Like I said, I live in Florida, South Florida to be exact. I know alot of Hatians, Cubans, Puerto Ricans and on... I feel this commentator is incorrect because:

1) Haitians ARE Black and could be considered, on apearance and zip code, as being African American!

2) It's the Cubans of Miami who are "sympathetic to the Republican cause"; not the Haitians. Haitians and Puerto Ricans, generally, vote Democrat. The Cubans used to vote Democrat until JFK, whom they never forgave for the Bay of Pigs.

Does anyone remember the famous qoute from Deepthroat, "follow the money"? Follow along with what has become of all the individuals that were part of what happened in 2000. Namely, Catherine Harris. Also, you find "conspiracy" (a word which does NOT imply you put on your tin-foil hat!) in the 2004 elections. Find-out who owns the voting machines (two brothers) and then take a look at their religio-political agenda. One of which, is the return of slavery. And, we come full circle.

I don't know if my comments will make you want to buy this movie or walk away. But I hope I have, at least, inspired you to do some research beyond this DVD. You are, afterall, already at the computer.

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