Weather Underground documentary - have you seen it?

[shance]

There is so much of the anti war movement that is absent from the history books. Surprise Surprise.

I thought the documentary on the Weather Underground painted an accurate, wide ranged, honest, depiction of the anti war movement and the sixties, which I think is very important when looking where we are today.

If you have a chance to see it. I highly recommend it. It was nominated for an Oscar.

[niyad]

1. what is the title? is it a short, or full-length documentary? and thank

you for the information.

[mattclearing]

3. "The Weather Underground" n/t

[acmejack]

5. Hee's the website

http://www.upstatefilms.org/weather/main.html

[salvorhardin]

7. Oddly enough, it's called The Weather Underground

Here's a link to the film's website.
http://www.upstatefilms.org/weather/main.html

It really is an honest look at both the good and the bad that came out of The Weather Underground. One of the things I was surprised to learn is that one of the former members lives not far from me in Albany!

This is a good one to have a viewing party with. It should spur a lot of conversation afterwards, hopefully among the under 30 crowd who weren't alive back then. It was a completely different time!

[shance]

11. It's a full length documentary.

n/t

[mattclearing]

2. Yeah, the stuff about the Capitol bombing shocked me.

Like, how did that escape my notice?

Excellent documentary, if a bit freaky in that it's so in contrast to what we've been told.

[shance]

12. Thats a good point. Why its so important for Americans to see the film.

Gives a much more accurate portrayal of things i think.

[bryant69]

4. It's in my Netflix Queue

Although I'm curious as to why focusin on the Weather Underground would produce an accurate look at the anti-war movement. My initial reaction is that it would look at one part of the anti-war movement; the part that has been glamorized ever since.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[mattclearing]

6. I would watch the documentary.

There's lots of stuff I never knew...this is more of the radical domestic terrorist side of the antiwar movement.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. Glamorized, and demonized.

The documentary does a good job of stripping away the filters that have mytholigized them. Very interesting.

[shance]

13. I think it shows both sides as a documentary should and lets the viewer

see for themselves.

I think they cared deeply about their country. So much that they were willing to do whatever it took to wake Americans and the greedy establishment to wake up.

Like it or not, they did some good and they helped open eyes to the wrong doing and the racism that was and continues to be so prevalent.

[salvorhardin]

9. This film dispels a lot of that glamor

Which is one of the reasons why I recommend it.

[mattclearing]

10. Yeah...it definitely was objective.

Even some of the central players recognized that what they did was wrong. Like any great documentary, it showed the whole truth and let the viewer draw their own conclusions.

Michael Moore would do well to learn from it.

[shance]

15. Who defines "wrong"? Was the killing of millions of innocent Vietnamese

wrong?

The sending of young boys to their death so that wealthy business men can make more money - isnt that wrong? That is what these young men and women wanted to stop.

I think its time for America to wake up and join the rest of the world and see true morality for what it is.

[mattclearing]

16. Violence is always easier than peaceful resistance.

I'd argue that any movement for change that uses violence is terrorism. Harming and killing people to affect political change is generally wrong.

Self-defense, as in the American Revolution and the War of 1812 are other matters.

[shance]

17. Really? Then why is violence usually the last resort? It was for them.

If you saw the documentary you would know they had protested, they had joined political groups years before, they had signed petitions, they had been tremendously active, involved citizens and they saw the writing on the wall.

They had played by the rules and the wealthy establishment wasn't listening and was willing to keep killing, while the protests just kept coming. Protests, it seemed were of no consequence to the establishment.

Im not advocating violence, but I think its important to acknowledge the truth and reality. That sometimes violence or upheaval is necessary with those who don't respect anything other than violence themselves.

BTW, the Weather Underground never hurt anyone, or killed anyone. Lets keep the facts straight.

[RaleighNCDUer]

19. Well, they did blow up some of their own people. The NY townhouse

bomb factory.

And wasn't there someone critically injured when they bombed a university chem lab? It was after hours and no one was supposed to be there. Or was that a different group - I may be misremembering.

[shance]

20. Compared to the millions innocently slaughtered in Vietnam...

I guess you could say yes they were killed, however they were trying to do what they believed was right whether you agree with it or not.

[mattclearing]

23. I wasn't accusing them in particular of hurting people.

But the use of bombs is a pretty volatile thing to do, and even when warning in advance, can cause harm in unintended ways.

Even from a destruction of private/public property standpoint, the use of bombs is wrong.

[kskiska]

18. The Weather Underground never killed anyone

except their own members, who died in the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion while making bombs. Warnings were always phoned in and the buildings were evacuated. That's not to say someone couldn't have inadvertently been killed, but it didn't happen. Some spin-off fringe groups did cause deaths, though, such as the Nyack armed truck robbery.

[LincolnMcGrath]

14. K & R

[triguy46]

21. Don't forget the SDS!!!! n/t

[Toots]

22. If they had stayed SDS they may have affected change differently

It was their infighting that did them in, not their cause.

[shance]

24. Much of the infighting was caused by infiltrators who were

intentionally planted to create division and in fighting.

They were becoming a powerful force and Im sure Nixon, the CIA and FBI were all too aware.

[apnu]

25. I did, I thought it was very good (nt)

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

26. Yes, the BBC have aired it a couple of times

Very worthwhile.

[shance]

27. kick*

n/t