The Weather Underground

An interesting documentary about The Weather Underground revolutionary group of the 1960's. This documentary is chock-a-block full of old footage from the era. I enjoyed seeing the world as the people of the 60's would have seen the news on TV. It was evident that many of the people who were involved in The Weather Underground have mixed feelings about their legacy. It's good to see that so many of them still are involved in social activism.

The Weathermen wanted to bring the war home yet had no idea how. Occasionally they'd blow up some innocuous targets but that's about it. Timothy Leary's prison break seems to be their most admirable feat. Towards the end they discovered their anemic political violence failed to gain traction and slowly faded into obscurity. This documentary allows me to understand their frustration with America's apathy, yet it also shows how muddleheaded and fruitless their dreamy activism truly was.

The member of the Black Panthers says it best at around 26:00 along with the gentleman @ 41:00. The Weatherman were nothing more than a bunch of contradicting, over privileged, angsty white kids wanting to jump on bored with whatever bandwagon revolution they could get their hands on. Fortunately the doc remains objective and does a wonderful job showing this. Unfortunately, it reminds me of some people I know.

15.10.17(+)

Interesting documentary on the collapse of dreams and illusions. Interesting to compare with GUERRILLA: THE TAKING OF PATTY HEARST, but even better is BROKEN DREAMS (1995), on the Red Brigades. For me, the three documentaries form a kind of personal trilogy about the destruction of the political dreams of 1970s radicalism. The Weathermen fall somewhere between the two poles of insanity represented by the Red Brigades and the Symbionese Liberation Army.

This was a very good documentary about a group of young people in the 60's who became domestic terrorist's.The filmmaker's allow the principal members to tell the story mostly in there own words.For me this was the most damning part about this film.Most of them come off as unrepentant and try to somehow justify what they did because they didn't kill anybody.The end comments are especially enlightening to there mindset and worldview.

Great documentary.

It's a well-made documentary about a bunch of fucking pricks and creeps. I hate all the self-important shit these people blather on about while they complicate and ruin the lives of working class people who don't buy into their new left horseshit rhetoric.

Well-made documentary with fascinating subject matter, whatever your personal politics may be.

A little underwhelming in that it doesn't illuminate much. What were their motives? Uhhhhh Vietnam, yeah Vietnam that'll do. I agree that the US govt was (is) a criminal organisation, but blowing things up in protest is just juvenile thrill-seeking and this documentary didn't try to penetrate or challenge the motives of these idiots

Interesting, though most might not agree with the filmmakers' obvious biases-- all the more pertinent now with all the discussion of William Ayers around Obama.