The Weather Underground
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Movie Reviews of The Weather Underground
Movie Review: A kind of violence
Summary: 5 Stars
A fine documentary about an extraordinary group of people.
The Weather Underground grew out of SDS, and in its early days reflected the inchoate yearning for authenticity, combined with sex and drugs, characteristic of its generation.
Then the group became more radical. BRING THE WAR HOME was their slogan. They planned to blow up a military dress ball, killing as many people as possible.
But when three of their members were killed in an accidental detonation in New York, they called a time out and reviewed their whole philosophy. They decided that they would never hurt anyone in any of their bombings. And in this they were successful.
They bombed public buildings, corporate headquarters, even the Capitol Building in Washington, without hurting anyone. They protested our coup in Chile, the Vietnam War, the murder of George Jackson -- things that were more than deserving of protest.
After the Vietnam War ended they splintered, discouraged by their lack of purpose and by inner disunity. In middle age they express regret over their conviction that they had "the moral high ground," they compare themselves to fanatics like Timothy McVeigh and the perpetrators of 9/11. But this regret should concern only their youthful impulse, not their acts. They hurt no one, and they destroyed property in a good cause, the cause of justice.
I think the Weather Underground, like the New York Philharmonic, the U.S. Senate, the Supreme Court, should have been an ongoing organization whose members changed over time. By bombing public buildings associated with official cruelty and barbarism, they could have been a constant reminder to our government that its crimes do not go unpunished, and a reminder to Americans that there is still resistance and will always be resistance. We certainly could have used them during George Bush's presidency, when the only sign that Americans saw anything at all wrong with the war in Iraq was Bush's lowered approval rating.
In her commentary with husband Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn laments that the U.S. government is still systematically murdering Black resistance leaders, and says in a somewhat throwaway tone, "We did topple two Presidents." This is a stark reminder that activism can accomplish great things.
One of the group's members, Naomi Jaffe, says eloquently, "If your government is murdering people and you stay at home and do nothing about it, your very inaction is a kind of violence."
That kind of insight is rare and valuable.
Movie Review: Context explains everything
Summary: 5 Stars
I knew nothing about the Weather Underground before seeing this film. I found this documentary to be very educational, from a historical point of view. These people acted with violence, feeling as if it was their last resort to stop the evil that the US was perpetrating in South East Asia. Its easy to condemn them as radicals but the truth is uglier than even they knew, If you watch Fog of War and the movie about Henry Kissinger's war crimes, you can clearly see that our government actively lied and committed murder in our name, with our hard earned tax dollars. The movie shows all the other avenues of pressure brought to our government: peaceful protests, angry protests, Nothing got through to our heads of state. So bombs went off within our own country. Its eerily similar to our current day lies about the war on Iraq and the huge marches for peace around our country today. Again, politicians back the money, the corporations, the PACs. As we ask our servicemen and women to re-up for more time in life-threatening war zones, we also tell them that we're not going to provide them with health insurance coverage when they are wounded. The Weathermen were young, idealistic and saw things in black and white, no compromise. See 'Monumental' and see the difference that can be made when one doesn't compromise - David Brower single-handedly preserved millions of acres of nature with Lady Bird Johnson's support, fighting against the money and power of huge corporations who were out for corporate profits. The Weather Underground was one voice of that time and I think it is important to know their motives instead of simply dismissing them as radicals. The US was built by radicals. Is it radical to want to act with integrity, to speak out against racism, to stand up against our government when we are killing other humans? I appreciated the sentiment of this movie and think it explains more fully the complexity of life back in the 60's. We're seeing it happen again... this time around, can we as a country provide options so that protests don't escalate to violence? Or are we again going to reject any informed dissent, leaving the door open for alternate forms of communication like the violent bombs of the Weather Underground?Movie Review: The rare documentary that let's you think for yourself
Summary: 5 Stars
Many documentary film-makers don't play fair. They ignore any fact or argument that doesn't support their position, and edit their footage in a way that forces you to accept their views. Their goal is not to inform, but to persuade.
Consider Michael Moore. I like his documentaries -- and I'm inclined to agree with him on the issues he's addressed (e.g., gun control, the war in Iraq, the arrogance and duplicity of the Bush administration) -- but they're far from unbiased. That's fine, of course, because he doesn't pretend to be neutral. He's an advocate who presents ideas and perspectives largely ignored by the mainstream press. His work is valuable (and often entertaining), but ultimately unsatisfying. I always leave a Micheal Moore film wondering what an informed person on the other side would have to say.
"The Weather Underground" is different. Though I'm sure the directors have strong feelings about their subject, they don't express them in the film. Instead, they present a balanced history of the Weathermen and let you form your own opinions regarding this controversial organization that endorsed the use of violence to protest the Vietnam War.
Because the directors resist every temptation to reveal (let alone impose) their personal views, people who watch the film often have wildly different reactions to it. I first saw the movie in a packed theater in Chicago. One of the interview subjects was Todd Gitlin, a former president of the SDS who was active in the anti-war movement but critical of the Weathermen. He seemed smart, sensible and thoughtful, and I found myself agreeing with most everything he said. But others in attendance actually hissed whenever he appeared on screen. I'm sure it would have been easy for the directors to make Mr. Gitlin appear either reasonable or misguided, but instead they let each viewer make his own assessment.
"The Weather Underground" is a great documentary: compelling, informative, thought-provoking, sometimes heartbreaking, and occasionally very funny. (The last scene, showing a former Weatherman where you'd never expect to see him, made me laugh out loud.) It's also worth owning, as it rewards repeated viewings.
Movie Review: Inspirational!!
Summary: 5 Stars
"Every generation needs a new revolution." --Thomas JeffersonAs a twentysomething, this film made me really wish I had lived during the 60s, a time of change when anything seemed possible. After decades of protest, the student left came to realize that their words were less than meaningless: the Nixon-led government did whatever it wished, from the My Lai massacre to Kent State to Watergate, and the people were powerless. Faced with this dilemma, the left had a choice: continue the useless verbiage, or "bring the war home?"
The answer to this question is not an easy one. This film doesn't take sides, and shows the conflicting feelings of the Weathermen today. Of course, most people are fully indoctrinated into the U.S. ideological state apparatus and would be outraged by the suggestion that the people should exercise violent power. They would justify the outrageous tactics of Cointelpro in the name of Order, much like the fat, repulsive FBI narc does in this film.
Undoubtedly, when your government commits atrocities across the globe, the safest course of action is to be a timid, bleating sheep. The Weathermen sought to awaken the sheep, but underestimated the apathy and docility of the American public. At any rate, acts of terrorism only drive the sheep away in a stampede, not towards you. The Weathermen probably helped the troglodytic Nixon, much like al-Qaeda has greatly helped Dubya.
I, for one, wish I lived in a generation that had its own revolution.
"Our leaders are low-rent Fascists and our laws are a tangle of mockeries. Recent polls indicate that the only people who feel optimistic about the future are first-year law students who expect to get rich by haggling over the ruins... and they are probably right." --Hunter S. Thompson, "Songs Of The Doomed"
Movie Review: Brilliant Film about Troubled Times...
Summary: 5 Stars
The Sixties Were Not the Romanticized Times of Peace and Love that People Seem to Remember them as. They Were Confusing and Chaotic... Up was Down, Right was Wrong and our Government was Doing Horrible Things In Our Names... It was From these Confusing Times that The Subjects of This Film Came of Age In... It's Easy to Say that What they Did Was Wrong, That they Went too Far but What You Have to Remember and What this Film Illustrates Is that We Weren't Just at War In Vietnam... We were in Fact at War In America too... From the Assination of Fred Hampton to The Murders at Kent State to The Incident at Attica State America was at War and Unless You Were Immersed In all of It Like the Members of The Weather Underground Were than You have no place to Criticize the Actions of Those who are In the Thick of It all... So In Closing If You Want to See What The Late-Sixties Were Really Like as Told By Those Who Were on the Front Lines of The War Then You Quite Simply MUST See This Film...as a Side Note I actually Got Into an Arguement With Mark Rudd about Communism as a Viable Political Option at a Rally Last March in NYC and Can Say He Was Portayed in this Film as He actually is, Which Is To Say Forever a Believer in the Possiblity of Real Change on a Global Scale... In Hindsight I wish I was as Idealistic as He Is and Has Been for Roughly 40 Years... also PBS has Been Running this Film as Part of a Series of Indepedant Films So If You have any Doubts about whether or not to See It Check Out PBS' Website To See Exactly When It's Running, It's Not Like It will Cost You anything...