(2007) 3.5 Derek Armstrong Brett Morgen impressed documentary audiences with his outside-the-box visual approach to The Kid Stays in the Picture, an adaptation of Hollywood mogul Robert Evans' gonzo autobiography. The director has taken several more giant leaps down that road with Chicago 10, his lively immersion into the heavily protested Democratic Convention of 1968. By employing animated reenactments over a spine of archival footage, Morgen brings this historical moment to a new generation, using Richard Linklater's favored technique of rotoscoping and the vocal talents of Hank Azaria among others to dramatize the trial of these accused instigators. Through this, absurd events like the judge-ordered binding and gagging of one of the defendants come to life in ways the transcript alone could never achieve. (Of course, since one of these defendants was Abbie Hoffman, these courtroom details are as hilarious as they are shocking.) The shrewd decision to score the film with political-minded modern rock, such as Rage Against the Machine and the Beastie Boys, rather than the stock '60s catalogue that typically accompanies such material, also lends timelessness to the film's spirit of liberal protest, still alive and well in 2008. Yet there's also a disconnect in our understanding about what side everybody is on, as Hoffman's yippies protested the very political party with which they'd find sanctuary today, personified by the father of all Democratic party archetypes, Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley. If Morgen's project comes up short anywhere, it's in providing a perfectly clear distillation of who everybody is and what roles they played over the course of several chaotic days. But the details hardly matter when the sense of place is recreated so vividly. It's becoming Morgen's trademark to marry his style with his substance, and Chicago 10 has all the crackling style and substance of Hoffman's most penetrating wisecracks.

Chicago 10 on AllMovie

Chicago 10 (2007)

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Chicago 10

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Profanity
Sexual Situations

genres

History

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category

Documentary

directed by

Brett Morgen

countries

USA

release date

February 29, 2008 (USA - Limited)

run time

100 min.

produced by

Participant Productions, River Road Entertainment

released by

Roadside Attractions

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by Matthew Tobey synopsis

The Kid Stays in the Picture director Brett Morgen turns his unique eye toward the infamous 1968 Democratic National Convention in this 2006 documentary. Using a star-studded voice cast along with a blend of archival footage and animation, Morgen tells the story of the eight demonstrators who were arrested and tried for conspiracy in the wake of the violent anti-war protests. Featuring the voices of Nick Nolte and Mark Ruffalo among others, Chicago 10 premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

characteristics

themes

Fighting the System

keywords

injustice

trial [courtroom]

protester

Democratic-Convention

Civil-Rights

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FIGHTING THE SYSTEM