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Title: What the Constitution Means to Me (2020)
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| Credited cast: | |||
| Heidi Schreck | ... | Self | |
| Mike Iveson | ... | Self | |
| Rosdely Ciprian | ... | Self | |
| Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
| Thursday Williams | ... | Self | |
Live Broadway cast production of Heidi Schreck's play presenting multiple facets, historical perspectives and personal experiences with the U.S. Constitution.
Wow, the few user reviews of this are a trip. Half 1-stars declaring it the enemy of decency, half 10-stars declaring it the second coming. Both of which are rather overstated.
This filmed one-woman-plus stage play begins as a nostalgic piece about a childhood spent debating the constitution, but makes a number of interesting turns as it thoughtfully explores America and its foundational document in great depth. It's a smart show for a smart, intellectual audience. The author is decidedly progressive, which is what all the user reviews are really responding to. And while I generally try and gauge how could a political movie is beyond its political points, you really can't separate the two.
In the end, there is a debate on whether to rewrite the constitution, with the author taking one side or another against a teen debater. I think that even though this looks like a genuine debate that it's in large part written by the author, since I watched some of a clip of her debating on the other side and both debaters said pretty similar things to what's in the film. This feels like a bit of a cheat - the play likes to suggest that it's free and loose and could be different every time but I suspect (as someone who hasn't watched the play and doesn't really know) that it's not that different from one night to the next - but it's still a fascinating debate topic argued wittily and well.
If you don't like intellectual discussions or your head is likely to explode if you hear the wealthy slaveowners who founded this country may actually have had imperfections then you probably won't enjoy this, but if you like something smart and funny and clever and original then you should check this out.