October 1989 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001675YPM?ie=UTF8&tag=doc06-20&link... Watch the full program: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/08/making-of-underground-1989.html
Film footage courtesy of Turin Film Corp.: http://www.youtube.com/user/TurinFilmCorp
Underground is a 1976 documentary film about the Weathermen, founded as a militant faction of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), who fought to overthrow the U.S. government during the 1960s and 1970s. The film consists of interviews with members of the group after they went underground and footage of the anti-war and civil rights protests of the time. It was directed by Emile de Antonio, Haskell Wexler and Mary Lampson, later subpoenaed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in an attempt to confiscate the film footage in order to gain information that would help them arrest the Weathermen.
Underground combines interviews with and archival footage of the Weathermen to provide a picture of this group, their opinions on American society, and their hopes for the future. The filmmakers use the material from their interactions with the Weathermen Bill Ayers, Kathy Boudin, Bernadine Dohrn, Jeff Jones and Cathy Wilkerson to structure its exploration of the formation and direction of the group. The film begins by presenting images and words that describe the Weathermens process of being radicalized in the 1960s through the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-war movement, and communist revolutionary struggles in Cuba, Russia and China, as well as historical struggles in the United States over Native American Rights and labor issues. The film moves on to discuss the Weathermens analysis of American society, addressing those who have inspired them, and further explaining the reasons behind their militancy, while also introducing the issue of tactics. The final section of the film addresses the groups use of property destruction as a way to bring about change and destabilize the current, and in their view, corrupt system. They state that no revolution can take place successfully without an armed confrontation with the state. While the radicals themselves are reluctant to discuss the specifics of their bombings due to their unstable position as underground fugitives, the filmmakers provide us with a list of actions which they have undertaken. Underground provides an intimate look at the inner workings of the Weather Underground, and we see their discomfort with being filmed, their strong internal collective identity, and their isolation from society at large. The filmmakers do not use the interviews and juxtaposed images to promote the group or support their actions, and it is apparent that their motives for the film differ from those of the subjects that they are presenting. In the end this film provides an unprecedented look at how a bunch of middle-class Americans became self-styled militant revolutionaries, raising questions not only about the merits of their struggle, but also about past and future radical actions.
This film is informed by the political and social unrest of the 1960s in the United States. The civil rights movement, Vietnam War (and subsequent anti-war movement), McCarthyism, unemployment and urban decay, and liberation struggles across many nations not only played into the creation of the Weather Underground, but also were a significant factor in Emile de Antonios decision to use them as the focus of his film. It was made in 1975, following the groups involvement in bombing The Pentagon, and an accident at their Greenwich Village townhouse in which a bomb exploded prematurely, killing three Weathermen and driving the rest underground. Emile de Antonio attributes his decision to make this film to his own Marxist beliefs, his fascination with the political climate of the 60s and 70s, and his specific interest in the Weather Underground after reading their manifesto Prairie Fire (Rosenthal 1978). He made contact with the group, and after gaining their consent to take part in the project enlisted Mary Lampson (with whom he had worked in the past), and Haskell Wexler (an established cinematographer with leftist sympathies). The three raised the money and put the film together themselves. The Weathermen agreed to participate on the condition that the filmmakers would not contact them again after the films completion (Paletz 1977).
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Emile de Antonio on the Making of "Underground" (Part 2)by thefilmarchive1,172 views
@jackamo23 LISTEN READ slowly consider ALL.
power 2 the ppl WHO R RESPONSIBLE HONEST and 'REAL'
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.O.
babylonIZfallin 3 months ago
@babylonIZfallin So the totality of your critique of 'Underground' is predicated on the fact there is something "mmmmmm" about the fact he didn't state whether his first contact point instructions with the WU took place in the morning or evening! Given the fact he met the WU and made the film then clearly those events happened as Emilio describes them (which suggests he did ask whether it was morning or evening!) Of all the points you could raise about this segment or the film! unbelievable!
jackamo23 3 months ago
babylonIZfallin 1 year ago