The Weather Underground (2002)

You won't be disappointed!

A different way of telling a story

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The Weather Underground succeeds where no German film dealing with this period has. German political violence shared themes, lifestyles, illusions and ideals with those of the Weathermen. Groups like the Rote Armee Fraktion however crossed over into leading a violent and murderous uprising against the post-war German state and social order. German society would have all the more reason to revisit this period to gain historical insight and hindsight. The recent high profile attempt at this, Baader-Meinhof Complex, is regrettably shallow and embarrassing. Taking a good look at this film would be a step in the right direction.Green and Siegel, despite their obvious sympathy for the material, do not try and finish the narrative of their protagonists. The film allows each of the figures to represent as much of their story as they can relate to. From the intact and defiant self-understanding of Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, to the confusion of Brian Flanagan, or the horrific outcome for former SDS luminary, David Gilbert, whose earliest scheduled release from prison is in 2056. There is no doubt that the Weather Underground failed to relate to the political reality of the period. They were instrumentalized by agent provocateurs from COINTELPRO, fragmented and distorted the SDS, and are part of the global discreditation that political radicalism of the period is subjected to. Their emancipatory narcissism serves as a lesson for the inadequacy of bourgeois subjectivity to actually bridge the gap into some form of normative or justice alterity. Their individual liberation meant exploring the limits of their subjectivity, drugs, violence, sex as a never ending hysteria of self-aggrandization. As much as the unbroken characteristic of some of the figure rings true, there is something out of joint about it. It is as if they never learned that their path produced so much suffering because it was not about the people for whom they held themselves out to represent. This becomes painfully clear in the footage where the Black Panthers, who were reeling under the full force of their leaders being serially murdered by law enforcement agents, rejected the Weathermen's violence and political superficiality.At the same time, we are invited to understand the depth of their motivation and their willingness to sacrifice. Additionally, the film takes pains to take up to an important task. It represents the contradictions of the historical moment that made such subjective distortions inevitable. Green and Siegel succeed in bringing us into the deep tragedy that the Weathermen stand for, a society so failed that self-immolation appeared for some to be the only method of self-recognition. It is the portrayal of a lose-lose situation that marks the impoverishment of the concept of the emancipatory into the present.

A "fair, unbiased documentary" that glorifies the 60s/70s terrorist movement, when white liberal criminally insane psychopaths tried to team up with Black Panther's criminal insane psychopaths in order to bring about a more fertile ground for a Red Revolution to take place. And who do you think they wanted to lead this new Red America devoid of democracy, freedom, intelligence and toilet-paper? Well, they themselves, naturally! The Left's notorious, continual defense of terrorist activities (provided they are/were carried out by Islamic extremists and left-wing elements) goes hand-in-hand with the Marxist notion of a (very) violent revolution.Far from liberals being the "pacifistic anti-war" lovey-dovey peaceniks they tried to portray themselves as to the increasingly gullible American public, they are in fact ready to support the most extreme types of violence and aggression, as long as that behaviour is in line with their own sick ideology. Hence why Hitler committed genocide, whereas Stalin committed "what was necessary for the Revolution".

It's incredibly rare to see media depict the real root causes behind acts of "terrorism" during today's War On Terror. While Weather Underground does not glorify its subjects behavior, it does create empathy on the part of the viewer... and that alone is revolutionary at this historical point in time. The Weather Underground portrays a time in America's past when the populace was activated in a way that makes today's peace movement look like armchair intellectuals. Is it really just a draft that determines how aggressive our anti-war stance will be? That is pretty sad, since, if that is true, the anti-war movement isn't actually anti-war at all, it's just anti having to fight in a war. This is a documentary about a group of activists who made a true sacrifice, giving up their own freedom to try and stop a war.

Nicely made documentary about some self-proclaimed "revolutionaries" from the 60's & 70's who, after discovering that breaking windows alone wouldn't overthrow the U.S. government, decide to up the ante by bombing any government building they feel is connected to atrocities committed worldwide. Some nicely balanced insight from directors Sam Green & Bill Siegel, as we see some members of the movement who still believe in what they were fighting for and would do it all again, and others who can barely bring themselves to discuss their part due to their embarrassment. I enjoyed the fact that other voices were heard, and it was acknowledged that these people were very close to engaging in terrorism, rather than just "Vietnam and Nixon made us do it--". Some (possibly) unintentionally funny bits in here as well, as we see nerdy-looking 60's college kids talking about engaging in violence, when they look far more ready to engage in an orgy; and constant talk from former Underground members about how tight they were with the Black Panthers, and not one comment from any Panther member to reciprocate, save one who basically calls them out for being kind of silly.