Episode
Frontline: American Voices: A Nation in Turmoil
Overview
A FRONTLINE post-election special on the lives, fears and hopes of Americans, from the pandemic to the polls. This documentary was filmed around the U.S. for much of the year, following Americans as they dealt with COVID-19 in their communities this spring, responded to George Floyd’s killing this summer, and then experienced this divisive election and its aftermath this fall.
Details
- Series
- Frontline
- Season
- Season 39
- Episode
- Episode 9
- Air date
- 2020-11-17
Episode context
American Voices: A Nation in Turmoil is Episode 9 in Season 39 of Frontline. It aired on 2020-11-17.
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Episode 8: Whose Vote Counts
As America chooses its next president in the midst of a historic pandemic, Frontline investigates whose vote counts — and whose might not. New Yorker writer Jelani Cobb reports on allegations of voter disenfranchisement, how unfounded claims of extensive voter fraud entered the political mainstream, rhetoric and realities around mail-in ballots, and how the pandemic could impact turnout.
Episode 10: Return from ISIS
The story of an American mother who takes her son to the ISIS-controlled city of Raqqa. A special report three years in the making investigating how the family ended up in Syria and what happened when they came home to the United States.
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Episode 7: America's Medical Supply Crisis
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Episode 6: The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden
In this 2-hour special from veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk and his team, hear from friends, family, colleagues and adversaries about the challenges that shaped Trump and Biden’s lives and could inform how they confront the crises facing the nation at this pivotal juncture.
Episode 5: Policing the Police 2020
George Floyd's killing triggered mass demonstrations nationwide calling for racial justice and police accountability in the United States. In the wake of those protests, New Yorker writer and historian Jelani Cobb returns to a troubled police department he first visited four years ago to examine whether reform can work, and how police departments can be held accountable.
Episode 4: Growing Up Poor in America
The experience of childhood poverty against the backdrop of a pandemic and a national reckoning with racism. Set in Ohio, the film follows children and their families navigating issues of poverty, homelessness, race and new challenges due to COVID-19.
Episode 3: Love, Life & the Virus / Undocumented in the Pandemic
Two intimate stories of immigrant families whose lives were upended by the coronavirus. "Love, Life and the Virus" follows Zully, a 30-year-old mother, who is diagnosed with COVID-19 — and gives birth while on a ventilator. “Undocumented in the Pandemic” tells the story of an family’s struggle to stay together, as a father is detained by ICE in a facility where COVID-19 is spreading.
Episode 2: United States of Conspiracy
How trafficking in conspiracy theories went from the fringes of U.S. politics into the White House. Frontline examines the alliance of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Trump advisor Roger Stone, and the president, and their role in the battle over truth and lies.
Episode 1: COVID's Hidden Toll
An examination on how the COVID crisis has hit vulnerable immigrants and undocumented workers. The documentary follows the coronavirus pandemic’s invisible victims, including crucial farm and meat-packing workers who lack protections and have been getting sick.