THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND
Directed by: Sam Green & Bill Siegel.
Produced by: Green, Siegel, Carrie Lozano & Bill Siegel.
Director of Photography: Andy Black & Federico Salsano.
Edited by: Green & Dawn Logsdon.
Released by: Shadow Distribution.
Country of Origin: USA. 92 min. Not Rated.
DVD Features: Commentary by director Sam Green, former Weathermen Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers. Original Weathermen audio communiqués. Short film: “David Gilbert: A Lifetime of Struggle”. Excerpt from Emile de Antonio's film Underground. Filmmaker statement. Bios. Spanish subtitles. Trailers.

For almost a decade, members of the 1960’s radical group, The Weather Underground, eluded the FBI. While the depiction of this cat-and-mouse dynamic may elicit a bit of playful rooting on behalf of the underdog, the filmmakers deftly create a thoughtful, compelling documentary on the rise and fall of a group of young radicals who grew out of the non-violent student protest movement.

Ten minutes into the film Rev. Martin Luther King quotes JFK, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable.” This quote resonates throughout as the filmmakers explore the use and ramifications of violence to achieve an end. (Surely, a relevant topic today.) Striking archival images, present-day interviews with former members, visual recreations, FBI documents and literary excerpts paint a sobering portrait of an America in turmoil. The filmmakers wisely focus on the idealistic passions that drove The Weather Underground (whose moniker was inspired by Bob Dylan’s lyrics) to successfully bomb “institution(s) of American injustice” in pursuit of its own ambitious objective--the overthrow of the U.S. government--without injuring anyone.

It was the accidental explosion of one of their bombs in a Greenwich Village safe house that killed three members and motivated the group to institute a no kill policy. That pivotal decision allows its former members to speak today with an authority not undermined by the thought that they might otherwise be educated, middle-class whites smart enough to get away with their crimes. (The U.S. government was forced to drop most of the charges against them due to the FBI’s mishandling of the case.)

An intelligently well-researched film, The Weather Underground does not attempt to give easy answers to complex questions regarding violence/terrorism, namely, whether violence can ever be justified in pursuit of social justice.

Tina DiFeliciantonio, Director/Producer (Emmy and Sundance Grand Jury Prize winning Girls Like Us and the National Emmy Award winning Living With AIDS)
June 20, 2003

DVD Extras: Easily the highlights are the commentary tracks from co-director Sam Green and former Weathermen Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers (now married) - a premier example of the dualistic political approaches ignored in the film. While Green tries mightily to stay unbiased and merely offers details about the film's research, Dohrn and Ayers eagerly disparage any supposed "inaccuracies." Interestingly enough, however, Green's commentary is far more interesting in the way his attempted self-restraint makes his occasional political slips so attention getting. Green seems to share the views of the Weathermen, but is obviously troubled and disheartened by their actions. Dohrn and Ayers, unfortunately, spend most of their time preaching rather than defending or elaborating on the films’ events, and this ultimately proves exhausting. Other extras include a conversation with former Weathermen David Gilbert, serving a life sentence for an armed robbery. Depending upon one's political views, Gilbert can come off as highly delusional. Michael Belkewitch
June 23, 2004