The Joe Show

America’s toughest law enforcement officer, the six-term sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, is quite the media darling. Sheriff Joe Arpaio is also one of America’s most controversial political celebrities. He broadcasts his mission to protect his community in a police show that once even cast Steven Seagal. Sheriff Joe’s heroes are the stars of silver screen westerns, vigilantes who unabashedly took the law into their own hands to protect the public. Randy Murray’s documentary is much more than a biography of a hardnosed public servant who has been accused of racism, terrorizing local communities, turning a blind eye to sexual violence, and ordered dressing inmates in pink lingerie and striped jumpsuits. The Joe Show is also a story of manipulation, the power of the media message and controlling residents’ fears, all of which let Sheriff Arpaio enforce a police state in his county with the voters’ permission.