- Welcome to POV.
I'm Pete Schwaba, host of PBS Wisconsin's Director's Cut.
"In a city overwhelmed by violence,
the only thing worth fighting for is peace."
Those are words as well as the overall theme
of tonight's film, The Body Politic.
The Body Politic is the story of a newly-elected,
idealistic mayor in Baltimore.
At just 36 years old when elected,
Brandon Scott was the youngest mayor ever
to take office in Charm City.
Scott has an intense passion for his hometown,
and he used it to get through a tough campaign and into office.
But that was just the beginning.
Scott faced a host of even greater challenges
almost immediately after becoming mayor
of his crime-ridden city.
The City of Baltimore has averaged
about 300 murders a year for the past three decades.
Upon taking office, Scott vowed to do everything in his power
to make the city safer for a new generation.
Every documentary filmmaker wants a charismatic lead actor .
The Body Politic has just that in Brandon Scott.
Scott grew up in the inner city,
where he was exposed to violent crime on a daily basis.
Despite that, Mayor Scott embodies hope and passion
amidst hardships and serious setbacks
as he tries to make unprecedented change,
introducing a plan to reduce gun violence
that included reforms to the city's police department.
As someone who grew up witnessing a disturbing trend
of poverty, violence, and young people in and out of jail,
he knew an unconventional approach was needed.
But after barely getting a chance to enact his reforms,
the city saw a surge in violence,
which brought out critics
who attacked the young mayor's approach to the problems,
including the governor of Maryland.
The film is directed by Gabriel Francis Paz Goodenough,
a native of Baltimore.
He began his career as part of camera crews
on projects such as A Beautiful Mind ,
The Sopranos, and The Wire,
which was a gritty show that pulled no punches
as it explored the inner workings
of the Baltimore Police Department
and the politics of City Hall.
The Wire is often talked about
as one of the best episodic shows ever
and had a profound effect on Goodenough.
The director is familiar with overcoming struggles
in his own life as a survivor of bone cancer.
He beat cancer, but it left him with compromised mobility,
which affected his abilities as a vérité cameraman.
His illness inadvertently nudged Goodenough toward directing.
Goodenough started this project in 2019
during the Democratic primary in the mayor's race.
When Scott won, he decided to stick with his subject,
in effect giving himself two films.
Thanks to the Internet, there is a way to find out
if Brandon Scott won re-election in 2024.
But why opt for a self-inflicted spoiler alert
when you can see what happens right here, right now on POV?
The Body Politic starts now on PBS Wisconsin,
your home for independent film.