The Weather Underground
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Movie Reviews of The Weather Underground
Movie Review: Uneven but fascinating!
Summary: 4 Stars
Little wonder that this otherwise fascinating study of that long-ago radical group called the Weather Underground completely ignores the most notorious member of this white, rich clique: Kathy Boudin. During the filming of this project, Boudin was awaiting a parole hearing for her part in the murders of two beloved cops. The sympathetic film makers didn't want to jeopardize this psychopathic killer's chances of having her parole rejected. It wasn't. She served 22 years and owes her release to a claque of wealthy, white leftist attorneys and old activists. These were the same idiots who protected, sheltered and funded our fun-loving gang of bombers and psychos for more than decade. Other than that, you're treated to the underground as they were back in the 60s/70s and the way they are today. Nothing can hide the bald fact that this small group were composed of white, rich kids who took play acting to an extreme. They were greatly inspired by the youth riots in Europe at the time. The Vietnam War and the black activist movements also fed into the goals of such charismatic young college students as Mark Rudd, Bernardine Dorhn, Bill Ayers, Kathy Boudin and a few others. Bernardine looks good today although she hasn't changed her views very much. What's chilling is that several of these old radicals said they would do the same thing today if they had a chance and the events were propitious. Bill Ayers and Bernardine married and he's now a Distinguished Professor of English at a university. Yet, he suggests he hasn't changed all that much either from his glory days as a bomb thrower. He's shown now with a baseball bat, meandering along those streets where riots once reigned. In his memoirs, "Fugitive Days," he comes across as basically an unsufferable airhead who misses the spotlight and whines about the sad plight of America and the poor blacks. The eeriest part of this movie is the long interview with one of the radicals who was arrested along with Kathy Boudin in the double-murder of the cops. David (?) is in prison for life for his part in this Black Panther planned robbery of a Brinks van. David acts as if he can barely suppress hysterical giggles. HIs mouth struggles to stay serious but occaionally, a looney grin takes over and he remembers intensely all the reasons why he became a "revolutionary." That's his name for all the misery he and his fellow terrorists called themselves for a short period in time. My college roommate back in the 60s had an apt name for the Weather Underground: The Marx Brothers of Terrorism. No one knew what they wanted, what their agenda was or why they were blowing up buildings and "symbols" across America. Bill Ayers proudly states today that "no one was injured" during these bombings. He forgets to add that several of the Weathermen were blown up while making a bomb in a Greenwich Village townhouse that was to be exploded in a crowded area. And no one in this documentary mentions the actions of their own deadly Joan of Arc--Kathy Boudin--who just couldn't stay away from all that wonderful violence and mayhem.Movie Review: You say you want a revolution
Summary: 4 Stars
Something of a `Where are they now?' documentary profiling members of the radical group the Weather Underground three decades on. A splinter group of the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society,) the Weatherman, as one interviewee notes, `stole' the student left from SDS at an acrimonious convention held in the late 1960s. Affirming an affinity with liberation movements across the globe - revolution was `in' back then, - identifying strongly with the Black Panthers, and in violent opposition to the Vietnam War, the Weathermen preached active resistance against America's `white imperialist' actions at home and abroad.
Although director Bill Siegel must have sympathized with the subject, the graying radicals, neither the film nor his commentary track betrays an overbearing bias. The film moves, sometimes confusingly, from the SDS convention to the Days of Rage in Chicago in 1969, the Weathermen's first public protest that degenerated into a bat-wielding riot. Then it's on to a townhouse bombing where three Weathermen were killed when a bomb they were building to use at a military dance exploded prematurely. More bombing followed the townhouse bombing, although the ex-members, who went underground at that point, stress often that the bombings were symbolic actions only. No one was killed, they claim, and targets were carefully chosen. Police stations when a Black Panther was killed, State Department buildings in response to atrocities in Vietnam. Siegel strings together archive film, old newscasts, and the like to tell the story. Interspersed are talking-head interviews with surviving Weather Underground members. Visually it's all a little static. I've watched this film three times in the last week or so. There are two commentary tracks, one with director Siegel, the other with original Weather Underground members Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers. I don't think it could have been cut much better, but with so many talking heads and footage shot from the inside of a moving car at an anonymous landscape, well, the eye starts to starve a bit.
THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND confronts us with an issue that is still with us and probably always will be. What are your responsibilities when confronted with what you believe is injustice? Is, as one ex-member asks at one point in the movie, doing nothing in the face of violence an act of violence itself? The brilliant thing about this movie is that it is open to many valid responses - you can view the Weathermen as committed idealists willing to risk their lives for social justice, or young, white children of privilege intoxicated with their own sense of moral righteousness and willing to bomb themselves, along with the whole anti-war movement, to the margins with their outrageous behavior. Some documentaries invite you to stroll down Memory Lane. THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND marches you through a nightmare battleground. The questions it raises about social action and responsibility are as valid now as they were thirty plus years ago.
Movie Review: "When you feel that you have right on your side, you can do some pretty horrific things"
Summary: 4 Stars
The documentary Weather Underground is a fascinating look at the 1960s group that attempted to "bring the [Vietnam] War home" by committing bombings and other violent acts in the U.S. It is difficult to fathom why the WU genuinely believed it could overthrow the U.S. Government and replace it with a communist utopia. The film is thought provoking, but the filmmakers, unfortunately, chose not to discuss some of the worst behaviors of the WU's members.
The best part of WU, for me, was not the film's account of the WU's history; I've read several books on the group, so the history was already familiar.
What I found fascinating were the contemporary views of the former WU members. The former members have widely-differing views on whether the WU actions were justified. Some members defend the group's idealism, others concede that the WU violence was wrong. I think that it is fair to say that each former WU member still has some degree of angst about the group; none of the interviewees seems to be completely "at peace" with his or her participation in the group.
My main criticism of the film is that, while encouraging the viewer to think about SDS' actions, it does not mention many of the WU's most-shameful moments. For instance, the filmmakers fail to mention that:
a) Bernardine Dohrn lavishly praised Charles Manson and his followers for murdering "pigs" such as Sharon Tate. (Specifically, she said "Dig it. First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, they even shoved a fork into a victim's stomach! Wild!").
b) Richard Elrod, an aide to Chicago's Mayor Richard J. Daley, was paralyzed by the injuries the WU's members inflicted on him during the WU's Days of Rage in Chicago in 1969. After Elrod's injury, the WU publication New Left Notes stated "Elrod is now paralyzed--hopefully for life. He won't be so quick to play pig next time."
c) Several WU "alumni" committed two murders during a 1981 armored-car robbery in New York. It is particularly bizarre that the filmmakers do not mention the case because they interviewed ex- WU member David Gilbert in prison for their film; the film tells the viewer that Gilbert is in prison, but never says why.
To be fair, the film does include several comments from Todd Gitlin (a former President of SDS, the group that spawned the WU) on the arrogance and ignorance of many WU members.
I still think that this film is well worth watching, providing viewers keep in mind that (as always) they are hearing and seeing only certain facets of the story. My wife and I watched the film together and we both found that the film caused us to think about the issues it raised long after we finished watching it. Whatever your politics, Weather Underground will make you think.
Movie Review: Insightful look at American 60s radicals
Summary: 4 Stars
In some ways, the group known as the Weather Underground (originally the Weathermen, an offshoot of Students for a Democratic Society) were more a symbol of 1960s radical idealism than a real revolutionary movement. Although they planted many bombs during a decade-long period, they never did anything that seriously threatened the government or power structure. Their goal, of course, was to spark a mass movement and inspire others to follow their example, but they remained essentially marginalized. The film, The Weather Underground does a good job at letting members of this group explain their motives and, in some cases, misgivings about their foray into revolution. Directors Bill Siegel and Sam Green seem to be sympathetic with the movement, and most of the material is told from the point of view of members. Leaders of the group Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers have retained their radical views and are anything but apologetic about their past actions. Most members of the group, despite the bombings, were committed to not harming people. This brings up a rather blatant omission in the film -Kathy Boudin, perhaps the group's most notorious member (for her participation in a robbery where a man was killed) is not mentioned at all. This was an unfortunate decision, apparently done to portray the Weathermen as essentially nonviolent. To leave out such a well known chapter in the group's history leaves a gaping hole. Still, the parts that are included are fascinating and give a glimpse into the idealism and naivete of these leftist radicals.
In retrospect, it is (at least from one perspective) a little sad to see how little long term effect the 1960s counterculture had on society. It seems that they were no match for the propaganda machine of the government and mass media. This film, of course, employs propaganda methods of its own, as when brutal footage from the Vietnam war is shown. Propaganda it may be, but it does serve to almost trivialize the violence committed by the Weathermen compared with that perpetrated by the government it was opposing. The other side to this argument is that the fact that these radicals are still alive and that a film like this has been allowed to be made is proof that America is not as oppressive as some would have us believe. Yet, this is only true to some extent; as the film explains, the FBI made a concerted (and mainly illegal) effort to destroy radical movements. There is also evidence that the government murdered members of the Black Panthers.
How you react to The Weather Underground depends on your political and cultural perspective. Regardless of this, this film is a compelling study of a radical group and gives us a glimpse into their world.
Movie Review: Thuggery on the Left
Summary: 4 Stars
This documentary traces the history, activities and current lives of the Weathermen Underground, from about 1969, when they broke off from SDS, to today. Most of the old familiar faces are represented: Bernardine Dohrn, Mark Rudd, Bill Ayers, David Gilbert, Laura Whitehorn, Naomi Jaffe, Kathleen Cleaver, etc. They started as a holier-than-thou faction dedicated to "direct action," beginning with the "Days of Rage" in Chicago in which their "revolutionary acts" consisted of breaking windows of upscale stores. They then graduated to setting off bombs in public buildings. They also formed communes in which anything smacking of civilized behavior was regarded as "bourgeois," and all conventions were to be abandoned, including monogamous and heterosexual sex.
The level of sanctimony, arrogance and sheer, unadulterated stupidity overwhelmed me, as they issued manifestos in which they loftily decreed that anyone enjoying a Thanksgiving or Xmas dinner in the face of the Vietnam genocide, oppression of blacks, etc., was an enemy and was complicit, yadda-yadda. After the famous Village townhouse blast, they went underground, and as the Vietnam war ground down and other movements rose (feminism, gay rights, etc.), they eventually gave themselves up.
Their "movement" was a study in futility, never accomplished anything, died of inanition. It was also dangerous. They seemed to be motivated by nothing more than delayed adolescent rebellion, guilt over their (mostly) overprivileged backgrounds, desperation to "prove themselves" to the Black Panthers, who alternately scorned them, ripped them off and (correctly, IMO) saw them as a threat--mindless Weathermen violence brought big heat down on the Panthers, who were shot and killed by police while the all-white Weathermen walked.
The modern interviews are interesting. Most of them look befuddled and sound regretful. In fact, only a few of the white-skins served any time in jail, despite their admitted violence, because the legal system that they hated ruled that the FBI had violated their rights via break-ins and other illegal "Cointelpro" tactics used against them. The FBI Director was indicted, not most of the Weathermen. Some of them try to justify their violence by claiming that the war in Vietnam made them "crazy," and hasten to point out that they timed their bombings to avoid hurting people. But David Gilbert is serving a 75-year sentence in Attica for his part in the famous 1980 Brinks robbery that left three cops (including a black man) dead.