amend: the fight for america netflix documentary 2021

AMEND: THE FIGHT FOR AMERICA DOCUMENTARY | Netflix, Will Smith, Westbrook Studios, The Documentary Group, Wilmore Films, MakeMake Entertainment (producers); Robe Imbriano, Tom Yellin (creator); Kenny Leon (director); Jason Ardizzone-West (production designer); Sally Levi (production designer); Eric Lin (cinematographer); Joe O’Neil (art director); Cory Copeland (set decorator); Marissa Bergman (assistant property master; Malorie Folino (property master); Neko Huggins (on set dresser); Evan Alexander, Anton Volovsek, Ali Kashfi, David Zung (art department).

PRESS

FORBES REVIEW
“Artfully combining the feel of both a documentary and a high-end theatrical production with soulful monologues, revealing interviews and stirring visual montages, Amend: The Fight for America feels almost like a new artform—one that commits to a radical level of both education and entertainment. The unique and compelling approach encourages the viewer to confront and accept ugly realities about our beloved America with the same profound love and affection with which one might acknowledge the very real and damaging dysfunction in their own family.”
-Forbes 2021 (Dana Brownlee)
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INDIE WIRE ARTICLE
“Maybe the most visually striking element of the series is the ongoing collection of recitations and reenactments that help put the words of past speeches and writings and affirmations in a different context.”
-Indie Wire 2021 (Steve Greene)
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CHICAGO SUN-TIMES REVIEW
“…Moving about on a simple but visually compelling stage resembling a museum exhibit, Smith does a superb job of walking us through the fight for equal rights in America, from the Civil War through relatively recent movements in which women and the LGBTQ community have battled long and with great courage and determination for their inalienable rights… Directors Kenny Leon and Reinaldo Marcus Green do a superb job of weaving historical photos, archival footage, simple but effective animation and powerfully effective onstage readings from a bevy of celebrities, including Sterling K. Brown, Daveed Diggs, Samuel L. Jackson, Lena Waithe, Larry Wilmore (who also executive produced), Jae Suh Park and Yara Shahidi, among others. The actors are not in costume; they each take the stage wearing muted, modern clothing, as if performing in a streamlined, off-Broadway production. Mahershala Ali is quietly commanding as the writer/statesmen/abolitionist Frederick Douglass; based on the segments we see here, I’d sign up immediately for a one-man show starring Ali as Douglass. Pedro Pascal’s deceptively low-key but immensely powerful readings as Abraham Lincoln make it feel as if we’re hearing Lincoln’s words for the first time.”
-Chicago Sun-Times 2021 (Richard Roeper)
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