‘Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn’ Review: Reel Affirmations 2023

metroweekly.com:

It’s easy to fall in love with Pennsylvania State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, the star of Timothy Harris’s Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn (★★★★☆, CRITIC’S PICK), a behind-the-scenes documentary chronicling some of the key moments from the Philadelphia Democrat’s 2022 U.S.

Senate campaign.Harris’s storytelling, and the way in which he introduces his protagonist in the film’s first few minutes — juxtaposing Kenyatta’s pitch to Democratic State Committee members with those of his chief primary opponents — is so compelling that viewers are likely to find themselves drawn to, and perhaps even silently cheering for, Kenyatta.In the film, Kenyatta occupies the role of undisputed underdog in the Senate race.

His two foes for his party’s nomination — now-U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and U.S. Congressman Conor Lamb — have the money, the name recognition, the carefully-cultivated political profiles, the arguments about what makes them “electable” in a swing state, the backing of state party officials, and a class of fawning pundits ready to spin the facts in their favor.By contrast, Kenyatta is a gay Black man, representing a district marred by gun violence, where the average income is a meager $9,000 a year — the third poorest in the entire state.He does not have a class of donors on which he can rely to fund his campaign.

His name recognition, especially to casual voters, is nonexistent. He’s significantly to the left of both the populist Fetterman and the telegenic, corporate-style Democrat Lamb.