“I will be an entertaining mayor,” blogger Andy Horwitz tells a nervous-looking supporter in the new documentary The Promise of New York. “I will be your dancing monkey. I will have bi-annual sex scandals.”
There is no question Horwitz or any of the other colorful third-party candidates featured in the film would be more entertaining on the job than either Michael Bloomberg or Freddy Ferrer. Too bad their fate has already been sealed.
The film follows four political neophytes as they attempt to collect petitions, get on the ballot, raise money and generally navigate the 2005 New York City mayor’s race.
They prowl the streets for signatures, crash debates and get arrested for allegedly threatening journalists.
The film, written, shot and directed by first-time filmmaker Raul Barcelona and produced by theater veteran Cassandra Hohn, is at times whimsical, frustrating and hilarious, and the perfect vehicle to show how the political process in New York stifles rather than cultivates democracy.
Seth Blum, a math teacher and candidate for the Education Party, is, unlike the others, running less to stoke his own ego and more because he actually believes in something. The rotund and smiling Blum runs because he disapproves of a non-educator like Bloomberg being in charge of all the city’s schools.
Christopher Brodeur, a gadfly and provocateur, wages his campaign to get on the Democratic ticket seemingly because it affords him the best opportunity to piss off the most people.
Horwitz, a blogger, theater producer and comedian, is just out to prove that “some guy” can run for the highest office in New York.
Last, and least serious, is Chris Rigg, a lanky, foul-mouthed artist, whose reasons for running seem the most flippant. But Riggs is also the most indicative of the film’s do-it-yourself, three-cheers-for-the-underdog message.
“I called Bloomberg’s office like 2,000 times, whatever,” Riggs says in the film while rolling a joint. “If Bloomberg is really that out of touch with the city, then maybe I should just fucking run for mayor.”
The conclusion, of course, is foregone. But the joy in the film is watching these four candidates achieve smaller victories, like getting on the ballot or, in Brodeur’s case, actually eking out 4 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary (and polling ahead of Council Speaker Gifford Miller in the Bronx). The film also celebrates the loyal girlfriends and associates who believe in these individuals, despite the impossible odds they face.
“Anybody can run,” former mayor Ed Koch says at one point in the film. “Should they? No.”
ahawkins@cityhallnews.com
