This well-intentioned documentary chronicles the travails of four lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union who take on some of the most odious actions of the early Trump administration. The sheer cruelty of the policies and the tenacity of the lawyers pierce through the film’s fairly lackadaisical style.

It may be hard to imagine now, but in 2017, President Trump’s executive orders and pronouncements were uniquely shocking. Within a week of taking office, he drafted the “Muslim travel ban,” stranding hundreds in airports across the country. Immediately ACLU lawyers went to work to take it to court. Then there was the restriction on transgender individuals in the armed forces, which even the military brass was unaware of until Trump tweeted the announcement. In the case of an unaccompanied pregnant minor who was held in a detention center and denied an abortion, the ACLU intervened. Finally, the child separation policy was implemented to deter migrants from coming to the U.S./Mexican border, where children were separated from their parents who legally sought asylum.

All these cases take human form as we see the lawyers at work. It’s eye-opening and disturbing and a necessary tonic that jolts us out of complacency. In terms of lawyering, one learns there is a lot of traveling. There are more shots of attorneys on trains and planes and in hotels than there are in your average rock band doc. Everyone seems exhausted, mostly because they are up all night travelling or writing briefs. If there was ever a documentary that deglamorizes the law, this is it. Of course, the upside is that when the lawyers win, they may literally save people’s lives.

The attorneys come from four different departments and are unique enough individually that each one manages to have something of an arc. Most of the focus centers on Lee Gelernt, who has a droll sense of humor and a complicated relationship with modern technology (a running gag is how he never seems to get his phone charged). This is likely because, though all four cases are intercut throughout, Gelernt handles the child separation case, which takes up a good chunk of the latter half.

There are intriguing moments throughout, as when Dale Ho, who takes on the matter where Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross tried to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, is reading the Supreme Court decision and doesn’t realize until halfway through that he won the case. Or a conversation between transgender lawyer Chase Strangio and his brother, an army veteran, regarding serving and the meaning of honor.

While this is a rah-rah film, the filmmakers add a segment regarding how the ACLU represented the Charlottesville tiki torch marchers. This emphasizes that their advocacy for upholding the values of the Constitution extends to everyone, even the odious. This does not sit well with everyone in the organization.

Even though the film is engaging, it is mostly in spite of the filmmakers, who never really develop a flow, so interest waxes and wanes, sometimes focusing too much on one attorney and case to the detriment of others, and other times jump-cutting between the groups, which, instead of building suspense, loses the momentum of the narrative. Even though four lawyers are featured, there are actually more than four cases, so there are few deep dives.

That being said, The Fight is still a powerful film, particularly when the clients speak. Their words cut. They exemplify the betrayal of American values that permeate this current administration and the bravery of the lawyers who are fighting for them.