Through the 78-minute film, Director Mitch McCabe explores how Michiganders are fighting for their freedoms when no one can seem to agree on what the word means.
I’d consider myself an amateur documentary lover.
I love stories in every medium — whether it’s written pieces that I get to interview for or a movie that shows up in my Netflix feed.
However, I’ve never watched a documentary that covered something so close to me.
While “23 Mile,” directed by Mitch McCabe, focuses on the east side of Michigan, my 16-year-old self was living through the same discourse on the western side of the state. If you were sitting in front of me, I’d show you exactly where on my palm.
The film, debuting at the 2024 True/False Film Fest, aims to capture the political climate in Michigan leading up to and after the 2020 presidential election. Michigan has a Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, who graduated from Forest Hills Central High School, where I graduated from in 2022.We’ve leaned blue in presidential elections from 1992 until 2012. In 2016, former President Donald Trump won the state.
This film brings a time its viewers would rather forget to the forefront of their minds. You can feel the energy in the theater turn tense as everyone seems to hold their breath. The emotion that is pulled from you hits hard, drawing tears as you listen to protestors in support of Black Lives Matter or roll your eyes as one woman plays the song “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen at the polls as they closed. I held my breath as I relived my high school years listening to radio reports about new closures due to Covid.
McCabe walks the line between humanizing and giving radicals a stage on both sides of the political spectrum as hot topics — like the BLM movement and abortion access — are brought up. As the people interviewed in the film explain their views and opinions, the film paints a more confusing image of what the people of the state want.
The only thing they seem to agree on is wanting freedom.
But how do you achieve that when no one can agree what it looks like?
This political video diary is dripping in juxtaposition. We listen to radio reports about new closures thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic as we’re watching Loons bop up and down on the waves of the lake. We watch people protest outside of the capitol building in Lansing while a group plans to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer and bring her to Wisconsin for trial. We watch a woman in a truck bed singing about Jesus Christ outside of a polling location while a man screams at her about the importance of having separation between church and state.
President Joe Biden ends up winning the state, but not without continued contests and protests.
The film wraps up shortly after — seemingly without an ending. And maybe that’s a representation of how there isn’t any ending in sight for this problem. Or, maybe, McCabe is attempting to set the stage on a country-wide level for what might happen this year leading up to another election.
With the same two competitors as the 2020 election fighting for a second term, I’m intrigued to see how events like the Jan. 6 Insurrection, Trump’s several criminal and civil court cases and Biden’s refusal to call for a ceasefire impact the people of Michigan. Already, over 100,000 voters in the state have voted “uncommitted” in the primaries.
Edited by Alex Goldstein | agoldstein@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Grace Knight | gknight@themaneater.com
Edited by Scout Hudson | shudson@themaneater.com
Lindsey • Apr 5, 2024 at 7:49 pm
I agree that this film draws emotion but I find it interesting that you cited the BLM protests as the tear jerkers while the woman playing “Hallelujah” made you roll your eyes. It was actually at that point in the film that I began to cry. The documentary as a whole contains a majority of passionate yet calm people sharing their views, but that scene in particular is full of hatred and inability to listen. It was a scene that humanized neither side, conveying anger and aggression. It is moments like those that make me loose faith in the future. That being said, it was an excellently executed and thought provoking documentary that has motivated me to become more politically active before the next election.