If we stipulate that gerrymandering is a pox on the American political process, do we have to sit through a documentary that makes that case in the most earnest, predictable way possible? Jeff Reichert’s Gerrymandering looks at the history and hassles of redistricting, and how politicians of both parties have worked to isolate minorities and independents and assure that their respective decks remain well-stacked for election day. In theory, districts are meant to be reshaped rarely: after a census, primarily, when the number of local representatives gets reapportioned. But increasingly, political parties find reasons to get their maps and blue pencils out after they acquire a majority, so that they can consolidate and prolong that power. Legislators find ways to rope in prisons (which grants them constituents to whom they don’t really have to answer), and they find ways to spite opponents and effectively disenfranchise entire voting blocs. As California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says in a speech documented in Gerrymandering, “The legislators are picking the voters,” not the other way around.