To the End movie review & film summary (2022) | Roger Ebert

However, Lears’ follow-up to “Knock Down the House,” “To the End,” is slightly different. The observational camera work is the same, but the narrative structure, subject, and tone have changed. This time, the film’s focus is on climate change, narrowing in on the experiences of newly minted Representative Ocasio-Cortez, who champions immediate policy action to save the planet, the spirited activist Varshini Prakash, Co-founder and Executive Director of Sunrise Movement, another rising voice in the progressive movement, Executive Director of Justice Democrats Alexandra Rojas, and the behind-the-scenes mastermind Rhiana Gunn-Wright, Director of Climate Policy at the Roosevelt Institute. 

In essence, Lears has recreated her four-story structure but because they are each working on different elements of creating change, there are no parallel tracks for the film to follow. The result feels a little shaggier, more like ambling towards a common goal than leading to a clean and neat conclusion as the first documentary, which stops shortly after the 2018 election. By the time the credits roll on “To the End,” each subject is still fighting for change, and the end feels more like an ellipsis than a declarative period. 

“To the End” also faces the challenge that not everything about policy change is as visually exciting as campaigning and door knocking or montages of protests, sit-ins, and arrests. After the elation of election night has worn off, Ocasio-Cortez now faces the bureaucratic grind and backdoor politicking that stifled earlier attempts to move the political needle. While Prakash is often shown at the mic or with a bullhorn in hand, Rojas and Gunn-Wright’s contributions are achieved over quiet dinners and conference rooms or alone in front of a camera or laptop. Although equally important, their stories seem to take a step back in comparison to the on-the-ground momentum of Prakash’s activism.