(gentle music)
- In the Constitution, in the Fifth Amendment,
there (sighs), it's an eminent domain.
They can take your home.
They can take your land if they wanna build a hospital,
highway, school, say something for public use.
- But nobody's talking about building a highway or hospital.
- [Tim] I know.
- They just want my home.
How could somebody break into my house
and take everything I have and go to jail?
- Oh, you could shoot 'em.
- I could shoot 'em!
I could kill them!
- But if they want the whole thing, it's perfectly legal.
Perfectly legal.
- Are you kidding me?
- [Tim] No.
- Okay, Courtney and Ted Balaker,
the writer and director and producer, respectively,
of Little Pink House,
the infamous story of Susette Kelo
and the Supreme Court decision
that allowed crony capitalists to take her house away.
Welcome, guys.
How's it going so far?
- Hey, Matt, thanks for having us.
Really, really well, thanks.
- The reviews so far on Rotten Tomatoes,
I think the last time I checked, it was 96%.
I've read a lot of other reviews from outlets left and right
that really loved this movie.
George Will thinks you should get an Oscar.
But the New York Times
absolutely hates what you guys have done.
- Yeah, they did not give us a very favorable review.
When it comes to reviews,
everybody is entitled to their own opinion
as to whether or not they think the film was well made.
That's a very subjective element.
What she got completely wrong
is she said that the film never allows an opportunity
for eminent domain to be defensible
or that that side of it is never represented,
and that's not true.
The whole film is a debate about whether or not
eminent domain should be used for private gain.
It is in several scenes.
Their case, people that were for it,
we have characters that lay out their argument.
The United States Supreme Court hearing is an entire debate
about whether or not eminent domain
is good or should be used.
- Your Honors, there is no principle basis
for a court to make a value judgment
about a plan to revive an economically depressed city.
- And where do you draw the line, Mr. Harrigan?
- I wouldn't draw one.
- Say you had a Motel 6, and the city says,
"Well, if we had a Ritz-Carlton,
"we would have higher taxes."
Now, is that okay?
- Yes, Your Honor, that would be okay.
- [Judge] So, you can take from A to give to B
if B pays for taxes?
- If it is a significant amount, yes.
- Fun fact for folks at home is:
Guess how the New York Times' building was created.
That's right, through eminent domain abuse.
And guess what was one of the very few editorial boards
to support the awful Kelo decision.
That's right, the New York Times.
- So, it may be that the New York Times
doesn't want anyone to watch this movie.
Could that be possible?
- That is very possible.
- I mean, they wouldn't have offices
had it not been for eminent domain, so-
- It's such a powerful story, and as a libertarian,
it is sometimes prone to asking people
to read thousand-page books
or study spreadsheets of numbers.
I love the fact, Courtney,
that you're actually telling a human story here.
- Well, thank you for saying that.
That was one of the biggest challenges,
was dramatizing a very complicated
and confusing, at times, story.
It was a 10-year ordeal, so there was a lot to cover
and condense into an hour and a half film.
But what was not a challenge was showcasing
and really doing a deep dive into the heroes
and that Susette Kelo showed the strength,
her principled stance.
She did something remarkable.
- The NLDC would like to make you an offer
to buy your house.
- Oh, but it's not for sale.
- Well, we're offering you $68,000.
That's significantly more than what you paid for it.
- I don't wanna sell it.
Thank you.
- Mrs. Kelo, we're making you a--
- It's Kelo. - Kelo, excuse me.
- No problem. - We're making you
a very generous offer on this house.
I'm sure you're aware of the redevelopments.
- No, not really.
- [Representative] Well, your property is in the area
designated for the expansion effort.
- Let me ask you something.
Do you work for Pfizer?
- No.
New London Development Corporation.
- But it's for Pfizer, ultimately, right?
- Not exactly.
- Then who exactly is it for?
Doesn't matter.
Either way, I don't wanna sell.
But thank you so much.
It was a pleasure to meet you.
- She did it completely against her will.
She's not a crusader.
She's just a normal person as she describes herself.
And she was just trying to live a normal life
and she did something absolutely extraordinary,
stood up to very powerful people in the government,
in big business, and she did it because she knew
there was no alternative.
And that, to me, is not only admirable,
it's important for people to see stories like that.
It's inspiring.
And it is, it's about the human heart,
the human face of eminent domain abuse,
and that was incredibly important to us as the filmmakers.
And I wanted to show Susette's face
as being the true crusader of her neighborhood.
- You're not really waiting for big Hollywood
and their distribution system to share this movie.
You're asking people to do it from the bottom up.
Tell us how we can do that.
- Folks can go to littlepinkhousemovie.com
and figure out how to help.
If you wanna go directly to the show listings
to find out if we're coming to your hometown,
you can go directly to watch.littlepinkhousemovie.com.
And if you don't see your movie on our list, don't despair.
You can actually bring the film to your hometown theater.
Simply go to signup.littlepinkhousemovie.com.
It takes about 15 minutes
and you can bring the film to your hometown theater.
People from Anchorage to Orlando are doing it.
It's very easy, no risk to you, completely free.
(upbeat rock music)
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