DVD Review: Chicago 10: Speak Your Peace
Brett Morgen's Partly Animated Documentary About Chicago 8 Trial
Aug 25, 2008
The 1968 Democratic Convention was one of the biggest flashpoints of the 1960's. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's attempts to make sure anti-war protesters didn't disrupt the Convention actually sparked the riots and bad publicity he feared, when police, Army and National Guardsmen assaulted non-violent demonstrators.
Brett Morgen's partially-animated documentary Chicago 10: Speak Your Peace is an intriguing, but flawed, look at the trial of the Chicago 8. The eight defendants were those the police believed were the ringleaders behind the protests, in a trial the doc describes as a courtroom "comedy."
Despite the fact that only Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale were put on trial, the flick is called the Chicago 10. It's a reference to Rubin, who said, "You can call us the Chicago Eight, but really we're the Chicago Ten, because our two lawyers went down with us."
Defense lawyers William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass received multiple contempt citations during the course of the trial from an obviously biased Judge Julius Hoffman.
Brett Morgen Directs Chicago 10
Morgen cycles between a documentary of the events leading up to the '68 Chicago riots, and performance-capture footage of the courtroom scene, taken from the actual transcripts. In the live-action segments, archival footage shows how Mayor Daley's attempts to stop the protests escalated the situation out of control.
"This Democratic Convention is taking place in a police state," observed legendary newscaster Walter Cronkite three days prior to the convention. "It's as simple as that."
In the courtroom sequences, Hank Azaria, Liev Schreiber, Dylan Baker, Mark Ruffalo, Jeffrey Wright and Roy Scheider voice the principals involved in the case. Several of the scenarios are played for laughs (Hoffman blowing an extended kiss towards a female juror), and (rather suspect) testimony by undercover police officers on the witness stand is undercut by footage of Hoffman and Rubin giving speeches to hordes of young people.
There's also a hilarious sequence featuring Allen Ginsberg. After Ginsberg testifies in court to the non-violent nature of the protest, prosecutor Thomas Foran attempts to discredit him by having Ginsberg recite one of his erotic poems. This sparks an argument between Judge Hoffman and Kunstler, during which Ginsberg tries to defuse tensions by chanting "Ommm."
Thankfully, this doc is free of the usual hippie reminiscence, and the soundtrack featuring Rage Against the Machine, Eminem and The Beastie Boys (The MC5's "Kick Out the Jams" is the only period-correct song on the soundtrack, appropriate considering the band played the protest) gives it a more modern feel.
There are, however, a few flaws with The Chicago 10: Brett Morgen could have done more to show the parallels between the America of 1968 and the America of 2008, which would have given this doc more relevance.
There are some historical flaws too: Morgen glosses over Seale's reasons why he chose to defend himself (Judge Hoffman wouldn't allow the trial to be postponed until Seale's usual lawyer, Charles Garry, was able to represent him).
Morgen also ignored the fact that U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark had initially refused to press charges against the protest leaders, because he felt the police were more at fault. It was also later discovered that that the F.B.I., with the knowledge and complicity of Judge Hoffman and prosecutors, had bugged the offices of the defense attorneys to help their case, violating due process.
Mentioning those facts would have done more to show why the Chicago 8 never received a fair trial.
Special Features
There's not much in the way of extras here. There are some trailers for other flicks (The Rollings Stones Shine a Light and Son of Rambow among them), and a Chicago 10 Remix Video short created by contest winner Gine Telaroli. That's pretty much it.
Final Analysis
No one claims that The Chicago 10 is unbiased. Morgen is clearly on the side of Hoffman, Rubin and the other protest leaders, and takes every opportunity to mock the forces of oppression that opposed them.
However, history is on the side of the protesters, since subsequent events exonerated them, and placed the blame squarely on Daley, Judge Hoffman, the police and army whose unprovoked attacks caused the incident.
Despite these flaws, The Chicago 10 is a riveting look at one of the most dramatic events in American history. It receives a 7/10.
 |
