“Dukakis: Recipe for Democracy” (2024) is a twenty-eight-minute documentary that follows Michael Dukakis, the former Massachusetts governor and 1988 Presidential candidate, from 2017 through 2023. Even though at the beginning of the film, Dukakis is eighty-five years old, he still has a busy schedule: teaching at Northeastern University, working on the North South Rail Working Group and cooking his famous turkey soup at his Brookline home, for his wife, Kitty. The dedicated public servant talks about his family, his life story, and his continuing efforts to create a better Massachusetts and America.
Leave your cynicism at home if you plan to watch “Dukakis: Recipe for Democracy.” Codirectors Erin Trahan* and Jeff Schmidt’s short reflects an unlikely combination of idealism, utopianism and pragmatism in its message that the average person can make their corner of the world a better place, and with enough people, that corner can expand to the nation. It reinvents the image of patriotism as not about aggressively chanting “USA,” but casting Dukakis as a relatable, everyman who somehow made it to the halls of power without changing. Though he is clearly exceptional for his active engagement, breadth of knowledge, stamina and accomplishments, he gives the impression of an ordinary man of the people because of his down-to-earth demeanor and quotidian lifestyle. He sports sneakers, travels on public transportation and takes out the trash. It is not unusual to spot him, and he and his home are insanely accessible to complete strangers who want to engage him or deliver a turkey carcass.
For anyone unfamiliar with Dukakis or was not alive in 1988, on the national stage, he was derided as short for a photo op where he appeared diminutive in a tank and helmet—disregard that he served in the Army and was an excellent marksman. Former President George Herbert Walker Bush was his opponent, and an “independent” PAC equated Dukakis with Willie Horton, who was furloughed as part of a Massachusetts criminal rehabilitation program during Dukakis’ governorship, fled the Commonwealth and is still serving two life sentences for rape, armed robbery, battery and assault convictions. The dog whistle campaign omitted that a Republican governor instituted the program in 1972, and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court expanded it to include first-degree murderers. Dukakis supported the program but had to change course when the public expressed outrage; however other states and the federal prison system under Former President Ronald Reagan operated similar programs with less scrutiny because they were not in the national spotlight. It did not matter that crime was decreasing in Massachusetts. Currently Massachusetts is ranked as number 4 in having the lowest homicide rate in the US. Dukakis got “The Birth of a Nation” treatment from Lee Atwater. “Saturday Night Live” and comedians capitalized on ridiculing his physical attributes which helped daddy Bush get that promotion. It seemed like a longshot that Dukakis would later become a revered statesman like a modern-day John Quincy Adams who would outlive his opponents, overcome the juvenile loser jabs hurled his way and have a better historical legacy than his contemporaries, but here he is. “Dukakis: Recipe for Democracy” is a countercultural portrait that redefines success, politics and winning as a marathon, not a race.
“Dukakis: Recipe for Democracy” explicitly uses the cooking metaphor to parallel it with the formula for a vibrant democracy by intercutting shots of Dukakis cooking, teaching in class and holding forth in exclusive interviews about how he decided to become involved in politics. At a time when there is a domestic crisis about invisible and emotional labor, Dukakis being associated with turkey soup is a powerful positive image of masculinity that is normally lacking in media. The first ingredient in the recipe is that politics equals people’s participation, not the unctuous association that most viewers will associate with the phrase. The second is not allowing people who do not believe in democracy to sidetrack you, i.e. demagogues. While Dukakis’ life history is one way to illustrate, not just verbalize the recipe for democracy, his daily life provides another. For example, investing in the next generation and showing them that optimism is not youthful naiveté, but a lifelong mindset that is best when coupled with a critical eye of what needs changing without surrendering. In the question-and-answer period following the exclusive, sold-out, world-wide premiere of the film at The Coolidge Theatre on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, one of Dukakis’ former students, who has a costarring, onscreen role, Juan Gallego, called himself “one of many.”
As an undergrad, Gallego was Dukakis’ admiring teaching assistant, and “Dukakis: Recipe for Democracy” charts his transformation from adoring, starry-eyed pupil then corner campaigner to seasoned government official as deputy chief of staff for Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. The filmmakers frame Gallego as a snapshot of Dukakis’ influence on younger generations. Dukakis may have lost the battle, but he won the war if even a fraction of his students is like Gallego and enters public service with similar values. With background shots of Biden-Harris campaign posters, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley stumping for Healey-Driscoll during the 2022 governor campaign with a passion disproportionate to the modest crowd and the subsequent victory for both tickets, the implication is clear. The election of Presidon’t inspired this film and the next generation to avoid a repeat of history, and at the screening, Dukakis and Gallego, along with the moviegoers, translated that as Vice President Kamala Harris winning the 2024 Presidential election.
It would be a mistake to think that this energy only applies to the national stage or at the collegiate level, or that this film is a dry, one note, humorless liberal screed. “Dukakis: Recipe for Democracy” is downright jaunty with Dukakis hustling down the street then throwing a casual bit of unsolicited advice to a fellow pedestrian taking a smoking break. He is at his most relatable when he complains about moving, which he has not done since the seventies. He returns to his old stomping grounds, Brookline High School, to dispel the mythology of the past being great and Massachusetts being a liberal American paradise by recounting racism in his hometown. He is also equally critical of former President Obama and his deportations of undocumented immigrants. His politics are rated E for everybody.
The visual style is elemental, crisp and unobtrusive. There are not a lot of tracking shots. The camera is often stationary and lets Dukakis do all the moving within the frame. The editing creates the continuity and flow. The framing is often conventional, and the camera is focused, so when the angle is a bit askew to focus on his well-trod, still-in good condition sneakers or a part of his office décor that was blurry or easy to ignore suddenly becomes the focus, the visual is usually a way to highlight Dukakis’ remarks. His agitation for better transportation is underscored with a shot of an Amtrak poster in his office. When Representative Pressley later discusses “transportation justice,” which may seem like remote and obscure rhetoric without Dukakis’ practical language, the editing and dialogue create a through line for the audience to follow. It feels so organic that it is easy to forget that a camera is constructing the entire movie. “Dukakis: Recipe for Democracy” becomes a tool for activism that may especially motivate Massachusetts locals to advocacy without bludgeoning its audience with a heavy-handed pedantic club or being dull. It instills a sense of Commonwealth citizens’ collective pride as the tip of the spear in acting for the greater good even if it seems futile or impossible. Dukakis has been fighting for this issue since the seventies, and if he has not given up, it seems unforgiveable for the rest of us to not show as much vigor. Not all victories reflect immediate results.
The final shot encapsulates the mood of “Dukakis: Recipe for Democracy.” It is unexpectedly suspenseful in the way that it sneaks up on its audience and turns to us as the people whom Dukakis passes the metaphorical baton, a bowl of soup. Who got to eat the soup? How was it? How will we provide a nourishing, wholesome and enjoyable state to others?
*Trahan and I are members of the Boston Society of Film Critics. Prior to opening night, I did not discuss this film with her or participate in any capacity in its creation.
