Review of Chicago 10 (2008) by Myrada H — 21 Mar 2010

After watching so many serious and haunting documentaries on '60s-era revolution in the United States ("The Weather Underground," "Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst," "Sir! No Sir!"), it was refreshing to finally watch a more whimsical and humorous depiction of the 1968 protests at the Democratic National Convention.

Through a completely re-enacted (and animated) courtroom scene for the famous "Chicago 10" (the scapegoats who were tried and convicted for all that went wrong with the protests), animated back-story interviews, and gritty archival footage, the filmmakers are able to showcase not simply the anger of the American public, and the American youth, at the sorry state of affairs in Vietnam, but also the infectious nature of revolution. We see in this documentary how easy it is to get swept up in protest when the establishment is clearly wrong, and when you sense the blood in the water: that you must do something, anything, to disrupt the power structure, and that you are on the right side of the battle.

The film, of course, also contains some of the grittiest and most violent footage that I've ever seen of the police beatings at the protests. Some of it is very, very disturbing, as we watch pissed-off police just lunge at the crowd and start swinging night sticks wildly. Were they right to be pissed off that their power structure was crumbling? Sure. But it feels like watching a parent--annoyed at their child for making too much noise--beat the child senseless. And we get to see the truly evil nature of some of Chicago's old political establishment; it almost feels like "Gangs of New York," the politicians reducing to sub-human those who disagree with them or who would threaten their image...

In fact, some of the archival footage is so violent and shocking that I would compare it to footage from some of the old Civil Rights marches. Yes, circumstances were very different, but some of the violence and disregard for human life are very similar. And to be honest, "Chicago 10" is most interesting for how it showcases the dramatic difference between modern protests (Tea Parties, Iraq protests) and the protests of 1968. We see, pretty clearly, that the '68 protesters were very much like Civil Rights marchers, as they were indeed fighting to protect our right to free speech and freedom of assembly. In the face of a mayor who boldly proclaimed that he would suppress any protests, and who was vocal about using violence to suppress the protests, we have thousands of young people who gathered in Chicago anyway. Whether you agree with the politics or not is irrelevant; as you watch, you continually ask yourself, "Can I imagine any of this happening to the Tea Partiers today?".

In the end, then, you begin to see that the risks that these protesters made did indeed protect our freedoms.