Film Roar

The Weather Underground (2002)

I don't know when the last time was that I paid money at a movie theater to watch a documentary, so I was a bit surprised when my friend Sven asked me if I was interested in seeing The Weather Underground (2002) at the local art house theater, Cinema 21. Oh boy am I glad that I said 'yes'. The Weather Underground is a superb movie in two ways: First the story of the 1960s radical group is very interesting and worth knowing and second the movie is exemplary of top notch documentary filmmaking.

The movie accounts the birth, development and eventual collapse of a radical group that splintered from the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organization at the end of the 1960s. Through interviews with the members of the WU, letters, stock footage and news reports the story is told about how the group was organized, their actions in trying to bring about an American revolution and the conflict with the government and among themselves that led to the disbanding of the group. What makes The Weather Underground incredibly effective is the success with which the filmmakers put the story in historical and political context. Through a succinct accounting of the sociopolitical atmosphere both in the United States and the rest of the world, as well as some very graphic and disturbing images the shock and outrage of the WU members is conveyed so clearly that one is left with a feeling not just of understanding but of insight.

It is the skilled ability with which a decade is framed that demonstrates the mastery of the art form that the documentary filmmakers have achieved. The subjects of outrage over Vietnam, the equal rights movement for African Americans, women's liberation are rich and hard to summarize, yet Sam Green and Bill Siegel manage to do exactly that and more; they also manage to convey the emotional state that makes the formation of the UW not only possible but one might almost say inevitable.

I actually do remember what the last documentary I saw in a theater was: Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992). That wonderful movie, together with The Panama Deception (1992) would make a wonderful triple feature with The Weather Underground. Until then, I highly recommend The Weather Underground to all interested in learning a bit about US political history and activisitm and to anyone interested in documentary filmmaking. Get out and see it while it is still in theaters!