The Weather Underground

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A documentary about the Weathermen, a group of 60's radicals intent on violent protest and overthrow of the United States Government. They were a subset of the S.D.S. movement in the early 60's which grew to number approximately 100,000 by the end of that decade. The S.D.S apparently believed in non-violent change, and were against communism. The Weathermen, on the other hand, believed in violence and some of their numbers were communists.
Towards the end of the 60's, the Weathermen were able to take over leadership of the S.D.S. Using the opposition to the war against Vietnam as their motivation, they began staging a "day of rage" in Chicago, whereby they would run through the streets, breaking windows, and generally destroying property. To their chagrin, only about 100 students showed up. They expected subtantially more.
Soon, they moved onto bigger targets. Over a period of five years or so, they bombed Congressional buildings, the Pentagon, various corporate headquarters, etc. After the bombings began, they went "underground", which means that they hid, family did not know where they were, they were disguised, they lived in small pods, not knowing the locations of other members.
As all good radicals bent on overthrowing the United States Government, they also took on other causes such as racism, and woman's rights. They also bombed to protest things. When a prominent Black Panther was murdered, they bombed a police station. When Chile's democratically elected government was overthrown by the military, presumably with U.S. assistance, they bombed the headquarters of a corporation that had strong financial ties to the newly empowered government. They broke Timothy Leary out of jail for $20,000.00.
With the ending of the Vietnam war in 1975, much of the incentive for many members of the Weathermen to continue their violent protest was over. They turned themselves in. One of the leaders recounts how much it hurt for her to do so, but she had two children and needed to support them, which, after the Vietnam war ended, and so did a lot of their funding, causing her to make an honest living. Which I suspect is hard to do when you are on the lam.
I was unaware of the Weathermen before this film. The film contains interviews or approximately thirteen members spread though it's one and a half hour running time. There are also interviews with a former F.B.I. agent assigned to track them down, and a former leader of the S.D.S. movement, and a former Black Panther leader.
The film: it does not overtly take a side. Until you stop to realize that there is very little material with police agents. The most visible opponent of the violence that is given screen time is President Nixon. If that is not an intentional editorial choice, I am not sure what is. A fair amount of time is given to the S.D.S. leader, who still seems aggrieved that the Weathermen were able to hi-jack his organization.
The film also spends a fair amount of time covering the group's racial views. Ironically, they thought more of the Black Panthers than the Black Panthers thought of them. I chuckled to listen to Black Panther leader denigrate the group and it's efforts to help their racial cause.
But the fact is that these people destroyed property. And while they tried to make sure that nobody was hurt, their actions could have caused death, which seems lost on them. The film does not call them on this. A couple regret their actions, but most apparently still feel they were justified.
Minor critisms aside, I think that the film does a very good job of presenting their story, given the complexities involved. A largely secretive group, spread all over the country, with multiple leaders, and with multiple issues, over approximately ten years. Over the ten years, there was internal power struggles that changed the group. I also think that the film does a good job of showing how much society was radically different at that time, and how many groups were motivated to change society, some violently, and were willing to give their lives for their beliefs. These things are lost on those us a little younger.
The people: They called themselves "revolutionaries". And they believed it. And this is where I may be a little cynical. To see people in their fifties and sixties talking about how they were revolutionaries, and honestly believed that they could violently overthrow the government left me wandering about so of their sanity. That some believed that but for a few mistakes they would have succeeded left me questioning them more.
My take was they these were priviledged kids, not knowing much about the world, and whose opinions were formed not from personal experience, but from what they read in the newspapers, and from other people. Every corporation is bad. The Government is always bad. These are views not held from rational thought, but from reactionary thought.
Most of the subjects went onto to professional careers. One teaches at the University of Illinois, another is a law professor at Northwestern, another owns a bar, and happened to win a sizeable sum of money on jeopardy, one is a community college teacher in math. Some seemed to morph pretty successfully into a society which they despised, and, at least in words, still despise. Two maintained their radical ideals, one spending 14 years in prison, one spending a life sentence in New York for being a participant in a robbery in which two security guards were killed.
The film moves at a brisk pace, and is far from boring. Not perfect. But I felt I learned something about a subject I knew nothing about, which served it's purpose for me.
The extras on the D.V.D. contain a segment with radio "communiques", a short film from 1975 about the group. There is a very interesting interview from the group's member who is currently serving a life sentence. He recounted how they stood for women's rights, but that they were hypocritical in that respect, because the women in the group were expected to be sexually available to the men. He considers himself a political prisoner. That view, I think, highlights for me the arrogance of some of that movement. Nelson Mandela was a political prisoner because he was jailed for a political and moral belief. This gentleman was in jail not for a belief or an opinion, but because he was involved in a killing. A killing of a security guard, someone who was not in any way involved in the social travesties against who they were fighting. I would have enjoyed seeing an interview with the guard's family to hear their view, but alas, no such interview was provided.

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Parts Connexion

Topic - The Weather Underground - jamesgarvin 13:44:08 04/27/06 (7)

Never one to miss an opportunity to... - dave c 17:28:31 04/27/06 (2)

Re: Never one to miss an opportunity to... - jamesgarvin 08:02:11 04/28/06 (1)

Maybe... - dave c 14:00:23 04/28/06 (0)

Funny you look down so condescendingly on a group - tinear 14:31:52 04/27/06 (3)

Re: Funny you look down so condescendingly on a group - jamesgarvin 07:54:18 04/28/06 (2)

Well, of course you're judging their actions and results from a - tinear 16:47:51 05/01/06 (1)

Re: Well, of course you're judging their actions and results from a - jamesgarvin 07:44:05 05/02/06 (0)

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