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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
GUERRILLA: THE TAKING OF PATTY HEARST
A small group of mostly white, college-educated students in Northern California began their own
revolutionary war in 1973. First, they provided shelter for an escaped black convict, who they
saw as a political prisoner. Soon after, the group shot and killed the first black school
superintendent of Oakland, CA. But it was the kidnapping of heiress Patty Hearst that gave the
Symbionese Liberation Army the high-profile notoriety it craved. Interviews with two former
SLA members provide this recounting with much-needed depth. The now apologetic Russ Little,
in prison at the time of the Hearst kidnapping, watched amazed from the sidelines as the
kidnappers’ demands became more outrageous. The other, Mike Bortin, is still defiant, and
candid, describing the SLA as a group of naďve radicals. The SLA's crime spree is more the
focus than the kidnapping’s aftermath. Perhaps one of the appeals of this case will always be the
mystery surrounding Hearst’s conversion into an urban guerrilla, a “soldier of the people’s
army.” The film cursorily attempts to examine the motivations of Hearst and the possible effects
of Stockholm Syndrome, never delving into the matter of sexual abuse during her captivity. Her
“trial of the century” is only touched upon as well. She explains her actions in a voice-over,
which is almost drowned out by psychedelic music and visuals. Yet another question left
unexamined is who really started the deadly blaze during the shootout between the SLA and the
Los Angeles Police Department. Regardless, Guerrilla is a great crime story, with all of
its bizarre twists and turns. Aided by revealing archival footage, director Robert Stone captures
the tone of the times, much in the same way as last year’s political activist documentary, The
Weather Underground.
Kent Turner
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