This fascinating documentary takes a look at the annual homecoming rites at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where a student body election determines who will be the belle of the ball. Until 2005, the process had been a tightly controlled insider game, with anointed (and always white) favorites heavily promoted by "The Machine", a shadowy group of fraternities and sororities that also nurtured many Alabama power brokers--senators, congressmen, lawyers and the like--over the years. Tradition, however, didn't sit well with African-American student Jessica Thomas, who with some help from her sorority sisters decided to run an independent candidacy, relying on a get out the vote effort aimed at student groups who traditionally had not been involved in the homecoming process. It's all a little reminiscent of the American democratic process in general. I won't give away the ending, but this is a wonderful little film that will keep your attention to the end.
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