Learn North American politics and law through cinema

The Valencian publishing house Tirant lo Blanch, aimed at the university public, has a very interesting collection that mixes two seemingly distant concepts like cinema and law. The idea is apparently simple, but very effective in engaging readers looking for a more enjoyable way to approach issues that can be dry. The key is to find a legal expert willing to play along. Many have done so so far, and thus we find, for example, the criminal lawyer Jordi Nieva discussing democratic institutions based on John Ford's classic The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. The latest addition to the publishing house is Joan Ridao, Professor of Constitutional Law at the UB and a lawyer in Parliament (and a former ERC leader), who tackles one of his specialities, the regulation of lobbies, based on the film Miss Sloane (2016), directed by John Madden and starring Jessica Chastain.

The volume is divided into two parts. In the first, the author provides a cinematic analysis of the film, and it is here that we discover the more cinephile Ridao, the one who draws parallels with other works from the extensive tradition of American political cinema, from Frank Capra's

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) to Alan J. Pakula's All the President's Men (1976), including Spike Lee's filmography. The jurist also delves into the choice of a declaratively feminist actress like Chastain for a role that speaks of female empowerment against what he calls "shark executives" in the style of what Leonardo DiCaprio played in Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).

But the interesting part of the book is undoubtedly the second, where Ridao explains the functioning of North American politics and institutions, focusing on legislative processes, as this is where the powerful lobbies of Washington come into play. It is well known that the author is in favor of strict regulation of lobbies, precisely to protect democracy and not put the drafting of laws in the hands of the powerful (difficult not to think here of the Montoro case, in which a lobbying firm connected with the Spanish government is being investigated, which achieved legislative changes in exchange for juicy sums of money). The reader will be able to immerse themselves in the North American political system with accessible language and a friendly tone, as constant references to the film help to remove all the weight and difficulty that is supposed to be associated with the subject.

The Constitution of the United States

Here we will discover how majorities and minorities are formed, the role of subcommittees, investigation committees, hearings, the media, etc. Where Ridao excels most is precisely in his specialty, constitutionalism. It is known the weight that the American Constitution has in the democratic imaginary of the whole world, a basic norm that has been expanded with amendments, some of which are especially well-known, such as the second, which proclaims the right to bear arms and which is the subject of the film.

And finally, it enters into the question of lobbies and their regulation, which is the lesson that law students or, for example, journalists specializing in politics seek in this book and which is not the case to reveal in this review.