San Francisco Chronicle

Iconic Lewis looks back as he fights on

- By Mick LaSalle

At a certain point in life, everyone comes to realize that wars are never really won, just battles. The Soviet Union crumbles, but then there’s Putin. The Nazis are annihilate­d, but then white nationalis­m springs up all over Europe. Racism seems on the wane, and then suddenly it’s back, like a monster in a horror franchise.

The war never ends, and this is what makes the life depicted in Dawn Porter’s documentar­y, “John Lewis: Good Trouble,” so inspiring. It’s one thing to be 20 years old and think you’re going to solve all the world’s problems. It’s quite another to be 80 and still be fighting, every day, knowing you’ll never completely solve anything, not during your lifetime, but that victories on the margins still matter. They make people’s lives better and hold back the tide of madness.

In the film — the title comes from a familiar refrain in Lewis’ speeches: “When you see something that isn’t right, say something, do something, get in trouble. Good trouble” — we meet Lewis at 78 years old. It’s 2018, and

clearly he’s feeling his years. Already a legend, he knows that nothing he does can further burnish his reputation. If he sits in a cushy chair and hangs out with his cats for the rest of his life, he’ll still be remembered as a great man. His record as a civil rights pioneer (he spoke at the March on Washington in 1963) and his long career in Congress guarantee him his place in history. But what does he do? He launches an exhausting political tour, campaignin­g for Democratic candidates all over the country. Some lose — Stacey Abrams, Beto O’Rourke — but some of the lesserknow­n congressio­nal candidates win, and he gets to spend his election night making congratula­tory phone calls.

“John Lewis: Good Trouble” is a rambling documentar­y that freely moves back and forth through time but maintains interest and cohesion by virtue of its subject. The more you watch Lewis, the more fascinatin­g he gets. He seems, at first, almost guileless, but then, gradually, we realize that this is a savvy political operator who keeps his own counsel.

We also get a glimpse into the character of a man who never allows himself to be defeated. At one point he says that if you get knocked down, you just get back up. That’s easy to say, but hard to do even once. But to do it again and again and again, and to do it without allowing oneself to be poisoned by resentment and frustratio­n? That’s a remarkable person.

Early in the film, he says that his “greatest fear is that one day we wake up and our democracy is gone.” Just a few years ago, that might have seemed like hyperbole. Not anymore.

The documentar­y doesn’t deal with Lewis’ illness — in December he revealed that he was suffering from stage four pancreatic cancer — but there’s a valedictor­y feeling about the documentar­y. There’s the sense of a man coming to the end of his life and wondering: Is everything he ever fought for being reversed, or is it coming into fruition?

In that way, “John Lewis; Good Trouble” arrives at a tantalizin­g juncture, as part of a story still being written.

 ?? Ben Arnon / Magnolia Pictures ?? Rep. John Lewis’ long career in the civil rights movement and in Congress is chronicled in “John Lewis: Good Trouble.”
Ben Arnon / Magnolia Pictures Rep. John Lewis’ long career in the civil rights movement and in Congress is chronicled in “John Lewis: Good Trouble.”

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