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The Weather Underground
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Product Description
Product Description
THIS FILM TELLS THE UNBELIEVABLE STORY OF THE WEATHERMEN, THE GROUP OF 70'S RADICALS WHO, FUELED BY OUTRAGE OVER THE VIETNAM WAR & RACISM IN AMERICA, WENT UNDERGROUND THROUGHOUT MUCH OF THE DECADE TO WAGE A LOW-LEVEL WAR AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT. IT INCLUDES MODERN DAY INTERVIEWS WITH KEY MEMBERS & FOUNDERS.
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The key players in the radical movement known as the Weather Underground are skillfully brought to life in this Oscar-nominated documentary. The Weathermen were born of sixties protest, but took their scheme to overthrow the U.S. government to especially violent extremes. Never a well-populated movement, the Underground petered out as its leaders aged during the seventies; by decade's end, weary of hiding, most of them had turned themselves over to the authorities. That journey, by which a fire-breathing revolutionary such as Bernadine Dohrn became a (still fiery) gray-haired wife and mother, is an intriguing one. This film, rich in period footage (and some unnecessary sensationalism) captures the era somewhat broadly. But the present-day interviews with the participants, contrasted with their radical selves, provides an exceptionally detailed look inside the organization itself. It's not a nostalgic look back, and the overall mood is sobering rather than celebratory. Lili Taylor provides the narration. --Robert Horton
Review
. . . Gripping . . . the filmmakers raise some disturbing and highly relevant questions into the psychopathology of terrorism. --The New York Times
. . . a fascinating window into American political history --The Washington Post
An important historical document thats also riveting entertainment. --Time Out New York
About the Actor
Lili Anne Taylor (born February 20, 1967) is an American actress notable for her appearances in such award-winning indie films as Mystic Pizza(1988), Say Anything... (1989), Short Cuts (1993) and I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), as well as the acclaimed TV show Six Feet Under (2002 2005). She has also appeared in several big-budget films such as Ransom (1996), The Haunting (1999) and The Conjuring (2013).
Pamela Z is known for her work on The Weather Underground (2002), Fat Chance (2013) and Gumby: The Movie (1995).
Jim Lange was born on August 15, 1933 in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. He is an actor, known for The Weather Underground (2002), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) and The Dating Game (1965). He has been married to Nancy Fleming since October 14, 1978. He was previously married to Fay Madison.
About the Director
Sam Green is a San Francisco and New York-based documentary filmmaker. His 2004 film The Weather Underground was nominated for an Academy Award, broadcast nationally on PBS, and included in the Whitney Biennial.
Bill Siegel is a director and producer, known for The Weather Underground (2002), The Trials of Muhammad Ali (2013) and The Road to 9/11 (2005).
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 1.33:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : Unrated (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 7.5 x 0.7 x 5.4 inches; 4 ounces
- Director : Sam Green (II), Bill Siegel
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, Color, Full Screen, Closed-captioned, NTSC
- Run time : 1 hour and 32 minutes
- Release date : May 25, 2004
- Subtitles: : Spanish
- Language : Unqualified, English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
- Studio : Docurama
- ASIN : B0001LYFKO
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #122,900 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #3,699 in Documentary (Movies & TV)
- Customer Reviews:
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Customers find the documentary informative and well-made, with insightful interviews with former Weather Underground members. They appreciate its historical value, and one customer notes how it explores complex relationships. The documentary receives mixed reactions regarding its heartfelt message.
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Customers find the documentary informative and enlightening, with one customer highlighting its detailed exploration of complex relationships.
"This is the best documentary on the group collectivly known as the "Weather Underground".Shows the turbulent times perfectly...." Read more
"Very interesting film about student political involvement during the 60s." Read more
"A fine documentary about an extraordinary group of people...." Read more
"Shocking, engrossing, enlightening and ultimately heartbreaking, "The Weather* Underground" is a new documentary that should probably be..." Read more
Customers find the movie well made, with one customer noting it's particularly suitable for younger generations to watch.
"...I appreciated the sentiment of this movie and think it explains more fully the complexity of life back in the 60's...." Read more
"Enjoyed this movie." Read more
"...This is a good film to see for part of the history of the domestic U.S. opposition to the war in Southeast Asia...." Read more
"A must see movie for anyone concerned with social justice, organizing, and social transformation...." Read more
Customers appreciate the historical content of the documentary, with one mentioning it provides a brief history of the Weathermen.
"...The movie is a brief history of the Weathermen, a radical group of anti-war, anti-racism protesters who, in the 1960s, splintered off from the..." Read more
"While the history is important, watching a bunch of white, privileged, naive "Freedom Fighters" co-opt the persecution of African Americans and the..." Read more
"Great piece of history" Read more
"An excellent historical treatment..." Read more
Customers appreciate the interviews with ex-Weather Underground members, with one describing it as an inclusive portrait of the organization.
"This film is by-far the most detailed and inclusive portrait of the Weather Underground that has ever been done, and includes very intimate..." Read more
"...film footage, FBI surveillance photos, and interviews with former members of the Weather Underground...." Read more
"...right amount of old footage and audio with new and isightful interviews with ex-weathermen...." Read more
Customers have mixed reactions to the movie's heartfelt message, with some finding it deeply moving and resonant, while others describe it as overly sensationalist.
"Shocking, engrossing, enlightening and ultimately heartbreaking, "The Weather* Underground" is a new documentary that should probably be..." Read more
".../hoping for something serious and educational, instead this was foul and overtly sensationalist...." Read more
"This film changed my view about a the weathermen and women, and it moved me deeply...." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2011This is the best documentary on the group collectivly known as the "Weather Underground".Shows the turbulent times perfectly.Many political currents were surging together,yet no one knew where the riptides would collide.You had good people wanting change,and bad people wanting to cause trouble.There is an interesting irony here.When Saigon finally fell to the VietCong,the Western radikals began to fall apart as well.Why if Third World communism was advancing,did European Old World Labour and American New World socialism regress?It was interesting to watch the former leftist activists sadly describe their youthful political conflicts and the commerades they lost along the way.Some of the radikals ,who were of the Jewish faith,were left like fish out of water.They rejected their Jewish ritual observances,embraced wandering Bohemian values,and later had to deal with evangelical mores around them.I wonder if Ira Einhorn had any contact with the Weathermen? Tony Alamo never went back to jewish,and went on to become an evangelical minister.I always thought the 'Weathermen' and the 'Weather Underground' got their name from Uncle Joe Stalin.During Stalin's early days,he worked with a group of scientific meteorologists,at a weather observatory.And they surely talked about political beliefs and their disdane of the oppressive Tsar.This documentary ended on a sour note for communists and leftists alike.I wonder if communism is realy dead.China now has the largest economy in the world.South America is moving forward with refined socialism.Once the right-wing dictators were moved along,their Latin American economies began to improve,under left-wing socialist policies.North Korea and Cuba ,controlled by internal blood kinship,has remained stagnet and fruitless.It appears the red radikals of the '60s went on to become 'Christian Socialists'.Many Jewish yippies appear to have suffered by leaving their rabbinical family values.Abbie Hoffmann overdosed and Jerry Rubin sold out to commerce.Ira Einhorn did not become a 'Soldier of Christ' and was later charged in the senseless death of his girl-friend ,Holly Maddox.Holly was a young Southern girl,from a conservative family.She was like a lost sheep,in search of a meaningful bell-wether.The zeitgeist of the times,mislead her towards the hippie pied-piper,Ira Einhorn.As Leftism began to ebb out,and the ethos began to change,the couple differed and splittered.This documentary shows that not all the sixties marriages ended in complete failure.Bill Ayers is still married to Bernadine Dohrn.The photos ,throughout the documentary,are amazing.The graffic photos of Jay Sebring and Sharon Tate are shocking.Several interesting footage shots of the various demostrations and police-battles,yesterday and today.A segment of film has even the defrocked academic and the High Pope of Dope,Timothy Leary.Which shows that there were so many varied causes and very different people ,working together,to promote change.To show that the 'norm' was abnormal and make the staus-quo into the 'status of what should be' for all.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2025Very interesting film about student political involvement during the 60s.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2009A fine documentary about an extraordinary group of people.
The Weather Underground grew out of SDS, and in its early days reflected the inchoate yearning for authenticity, combined with sex and drugs, characteristic of its generation.
Then the group became more radical. BRING THE WAR HOME was their slogan. They planned to blow up a military dress ball, killing as many people as possible.
But when three of their members were killed in an accidental detonation in New York, they called a time out and reviewed their whole philosophy. They decided that they would never hurt anyone in any of their bombings. And in this they were successful.
They bombed public buildings, corporate headquarters, even the Capitol Building in Washington, without hurting anyone. They protested our coup in Chile, the Vietnam War, the murder of George Jackson -- things that were more than deserving of protest.
After the Vietnam War ended they splintered, discouraged by their lack of purpose and by inner disunity. In middle age they express regret over their conviction that they had "the moral high ground," they compare themselves to fanatics like Timothy McVeigh and the perpetrators of 9/11. But this regret should concern only their youthful impulse, not their acts. They hurt no one, and they destroyed property in a good cause, the cause of justice.
I think the Weather Underground, like the New York Philharmonic, the U.S. Senate, the Supreme Court, should have been an ongoing organization whose members changed over time. By bombing public buildings associated with official cruelty and barbarism, they could have been a constant reminder to our government that its crimes do not go unpunished, and a reminder to Americans that there is still resistance and will always be resistance. We certainly could have used them during George Bush's presidency, when the only sign that Americans saw anything at all wrong with the war in Iraq was Bush's lowered approval rating.
In her commentary with husband Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn laments that the U.S. government is still systematically murdering Black resistance leaders, and says in a somewhat throwaway tone, "We did topple two Presidents." This is a stark reminder that activism can accomplish great things.
One of the group's members, Naomi Jaffe, says eloquently, "If your government is murdering people and you stay at home and do nothing about it, your very inaction is a kind of violence."
That kind of insight is rare and valuable.
Top reviews from other countries
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Haris BajricReviewed in Germany on February 12, 2014
3.0 out of 5 stars Ein "softer" Film zu einem "harten" Thema
Ein seltener Film zu diesem Thema, gut gemacht aber er wird der Komplexität der Materie bei weitem nicht gerecht. Vor allem die Rolle und das Verhalten des FBI und der Regierung allgemein gegenüber dieser Organisation, wird so gut wie ganz außer Acht gelassen, obwohl sie gerade beim Thema "Weather Underground" so wesentlich war. Denn genau diese Rolle würde diesen Film aktueller denn je machen, durch die Parallelen zur Gegenwart. Stattdessen geht es leider mehr um die inzwischen etwas betagten Beteiligten, die teilweise in Nostalgie schwelgen und oft mit fast hollywoodreifer Selbstdarstellung nicht sparen. Ein "softer" Film zu einem "harten" Thema. Vor allem, da so wenig darüber bekannt ist, es schein fast so, als ob man dieses Kapitel der Geschichte der USA unter den Teppich kehren will. Aber auch gerade deswegen ist dieser Film sicherlich sehenswert, vor allem als Einstieg in dieses interessante Stück Zeitgeschichte, obwohl man aus der Literatur darüber sicher viel mehr Informationen bekommt - aber auch Literatur gibt es dazu nicht sehr viel. Jedenfalls nichts das dem Deutschen "RAF-Revival" (im Sinne von Publikumsinteresse) nahekommen würde.
- maikReviewed in the United Kingdom on August 16, 2012
5.0 out of 5 stars an amazing story
not without good reason has this documentary won several film festival awards (and nominated for an Oscar!) _ a well directed documentary which interplays extensively researched archival footage with modern-day interviews by the main members of the Weather Underground _ all combining to reveal a part of recent history that many would prefer remained hidden _
i don't usually spend time writing reviews _ this documentary was worth the effort! Enjoy!
- Robert WoolfolkReviewed in Canada on September 12, 2015
4.0 out of 5 stars Really good and enlightening
Really good and enlightening. I am not a radical fan, but they were right in many issues at the time.