Review of Chicago 10 (2008) by Mjs M — 13 Nov 2008

This is a documentary about the protest at the 1968 Democratic convention and the trial that followed. This is an important story worth telling, and the actual documentary footage works pretty well, but the film shoots itself in the foot with its animated recreations.

The first problem is that the animation in these reenactments looks horrible; it?s a form of rotoscope animation drawn over live actors, but it isn?t done anywhere near as well as it was in Richard Linklater?s films, it looks like something that would have been used in a computer game from 1995.

Secondly the voice acting is ridiculous on a regular basis, particularly with the judge whose voice sounded like a mix between Mr. Magoo and Froghorn Leghorn, the facts of this trial are more then enough to feel like a miscarriage of justice, the added effect is cheesy and unneeded.

The film uses modern protest songs by the likes of Rage Against the Machine and Eminem, this initially felt out of place, then again the last thing the world needed was yet another montage of 60s civil disobedience to the tune of Buffalo Springfield.

I think what the film really needed was some contemporary interviews looking back, six of the ten are still alive and I would have loved to hear their take today.