Documentary filmmaker June Beallor revisits a tumultuous year that fundamentally changed America. 2020 CHAOS AND HOPE explores the COVID-19 pandemic response, economic inequality, racial unrest, and sociopolitical upheaval in vivid detail. Interviews with key government players, noted experts, and regular citizens driven to action are coupled with a montage-styled, timeline format. She captures the breadth of human emotions with raw reactions to personal tragedies. Beallor has a decidedly liberal viewpoint but effectively uses damning footage to frame her arguments. She primarily faults Donald Trump, his administration, and their callous response to dire crises.
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2020 CHAOS AND HOPE is told in four chapters and an epilogue. The first chapter tackles the explosion of the coronavirus and its differing impact. Wealthier classes were allowed to stay home. They had the economic resources to weather the storm. Black, Latino, and immigrant communities suffered. Those deemed essential workers were low-income and had the least capacity to handle the virus. Emotional interviews with medical staff in Queens and Boston tell of breaking points. People of color disproportionately died on gurneys in hallways. There weren’t enough ventilators and personnel. Doctors weep as they make the awful choice of whom to save. Beallor uses contrasting video of Trump downplaying the virus and issuing false information with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s warnings of a health tsunami. Fauci appears extensively throughout with honest assessments of how Trump’s tactics led to unthinkable casualty rates.
The second and third chapters address America’s racial reckoning. The deaths of Elijah McClain, Breanna Taylor, and George Floyd spawn the Black Lives Matter movement. Floyd’s desperate last words, “I can’t breathe”, caught on a cell phone camera ignites a firestorm of protest. Trump seizes the moment to galvanize his supporters. A wave of anti-government and racist Asian sentiment sweeps across the country. Beallor shows instances of Asians targeted for violence. This also mirrors the rise of armed white supremacists and right-wing militias confronting government officials in state legislative houses. Thus begins the precursors to the January 6th insurrection.
The fourth chapter looks at the rise of QANON and Trump’s efforts to destabilize the American electoral system. Mail ballots become the preferred voting choice during the pandemic. Trump foments anger and doubt in his followers with baseless claims of voter fraud. U.S Congressman Adam Kinzinger speaks frankly about facts being completely ignored. He’s appalled as Republican colleagues stay quiet as QANON surges in their base. Other experts comment how the common theme of protecting children from pedophiles ballooned into deep state conspiracies and messianic devotion to Trump.
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Beallor Gives Time to Chris Stirewalt
Abramorama
Beallor gives a lot of time to former Fox News election analyst Chris Stirewalt. He made the correct and fateful decision to call Arizona for Joe Biden on election night. Stirewalt was excoriated by Trump and assailed online. He was fired by Fox News weeks later as Trump launched a barrage of lawsuits to challenge the election results. The Stop the Steal movement begins in earnest. Stirewalt, who like many of the interviewed subjects face constant death threats, refuses to give credence to lies. Every lawsuit was found to have zero merit. Repeated recounts have confirmed his results. Stirewalt’s career was destroyed, but he proudly stands on a pillar of truth.
The epilogue hails the rapid development and success of the coronavirus vaccines. But also looks at the events leading up to the January 6th insurrection. Social media companies, especially Facebook, are chastised as the source of this treasonous scourge. Tech giants make money from sowing discontent. Algorithms promote hatred, factionalization, and dangerous anger; more eyeballs equals advertising revenue. Trump successfully convinced a swath of the country to distrust mainstream news sources. This allowed bad actors, like Russian intelligence operatives, to exploit social media applications. Facebook and others knew this was happening and did nothing.
I didn’t get any hope from watching this film. Beallor (The Last Days, Liberation Heroes) sums up the chaos. We are still reeling from 2020 with many issues reverberating. Principled and courageous people like Kinzinger have been drummed out of their party. Fauci and his family require 24/7 federal security. Trump and his “big lie” continues to fuel an existential threat to American democracy.
The country remains embroiled in 2020 conflicts. Beallor’s film, like everything else today, will resonate depending on your viewpoints. That said, facts are stubbornly facts. Drinking bleach, infamously espoused by Trump and shown here, will kill you faster that contracting COVID-19.
2020 CHAOS AND HOPE will have a limited theatrical release on October 28th from Abramorama.
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