Review of The Weather Underground (2002) by Steven H — 08 Jan 2009

A very interesting, if lacklustre documentary owing to the filmmakers' lack of proper focus and inability to put the Weathermen against the wall. The interviewees yammer on how they were seduced by the spirit of their time, with the Vietnam war going on and student protests and radicalism being widespread.

To me this is far from satisfactory as it is just a stock excuse deliberately used to ignore whatever unprocessed emotional traumas made the youngsters radicalise in the first place. Surely no one else bought their stories? Expressions 'I don't know what made me do it' and 'The Vietnam war made us a little crazy, I guess' may seem like they imply regret, which is the acceptable and expected reflection from them, but the interviewees definitely do not explore their motives fully.

Mark Rudd even explictly says that he cannot discuss his involvement in the organisation in public. Which raises the question: why to make the documentary in the first place then? What was more interesting about the documentary was the extend the Nixon government went to oppress dissidents, which became as a shock to me even though I have studied American history.

As far as politics and political theory go, that was far more important and deserving a documentary of its own, rather than the Weather Underground, who were - face it - a bunch of well-do, middle or upper-class white kids looking for adventure and direction in life.