A (Political) Star Is Born

LUCK HAS ALWAYS been a factor in any successful enterprise. But in the case of Netflix's exciting new political documentary Knock Down The House, luck outweighs any other contributing factor for its success.

When filmmaker Rachel Lears set out to make a documentary about female grassroots political aspirants in the US, she could not have known that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would become one of the most talked-about political stars of the country.

Lears would have some sense that AOC - the acronym by which Americans now refer Ocasio-Cortez to - is a New York bartender with preternatural political acumen and extraordinary charisma. But she might have feared, like almost every major news outlet thought then, that the 29-year-old had a slim chance of beating 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley in the Democratic Party's primary election for New York's 14th congressional district in June 2018.