Mayor Pete, directed by Jesse Moss, follows the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries of the 32nd mayor of South Bend in Indiana: Pete Buttigieg. This political journey is a game changer for the re-shaping of legislating leaders: if he were to win, Pete Buttigieg would become the youngest President of the United States, the first one to be accompanied by a First Husband and the most empathetic amongst diversity advocates.
The documentary — produced by Dan Cogan, Jon Bardin, Laurie David, Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss — provides to viewers an unprecedented intimacy of Mayor Pete, with his husband Chasten, and their efficient team. The motion picture covers the earliest days of the election campaign and Buttigieg’s unlikely triumphant victory in Iowa, revealing what truly occurs inside the race for the highest office in the United States, as well as the myriad ways it transforms the lives of those at its centre.
Challenging the idea of what a Presidential candidate should look like, his style is candid, his demeanour collected, he is a polyglot who speaks 8 languages including Norwegian and Maltese, and is also a Veteran who a graduated from Harvard College and Oxford University. Recently appointed U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Buttigieg serves as the first openly LGBTQ Senate-confirmed Cabinet member in U.
S. history.
Whereas other politicians are boisterous and loud, Mayor Pete keeps things bottled up inside. Nevertheless, every story he has heard throughout the campaign affects his activist mission. He carries the weight of injustice, hurt, division, but doesn’t show it. Unlike other politicians, Buttigieg posses a refreshing authenticity, to the extent that he has been defined as the “Mr. Rogers of Politics.”
The nonintrusive storytelling by Jesse Moss, allows the narrative to unfold itself spontaneously without glorifying or vilifying any of the characters captured by the camera. It is not just the chronicle of a man, but of a nation. What emerges is a country of abuses and within this scenario Pete Buttigieg isn’t forcefully presented as a heroic figure. His discreet, yet receptive, charisma speaks for itself.
He goes against the grain: if political debates are handled like shows, he always demonstrates poise and equilibrium, and also owns up to his fallibility. This is clear the moment he acknowledges the episode of police violence in the town where he is Mayor: when Eric Logan, a 54-year-old Black man from South Bend, Indiana, was shot and killed by Sergeant Ryan O’Neill a white member of the police force in South Bend.
In these regards Mayor Pete discusses the importance of belonging. He further enhances how identity is multifaceted and transcends race or sexual orientation, but arises from a plenitude of traits. Hence, his aspiration is not aim to become the President of Gay America, but everyone’s president, simply as a homosexual man who struggled in his youth in accepting who he is.
Through this gentle cinematic tale we fully grasp how politics is about every day lives and Pete Buttigieg attests how trust can be reciprocated.
His pursuit concerns redefining a nation. So far the Reagan ideal has prevailed in society, but what is currently emerging is a renewed level of attention. Mayor Pete epitomises the resilience of a democracy, in the way someone so unconventional — according to political tradition — pursues not just the Oval Office, but one that is moral.
The film will be available worldwide on Amazon Prime Video from November 12th.
Final Grade: B-