The Weather Underground (2002)

The remarkable story of The Weather Underground, radical activists of the 1970s, and of radical politics at its best and most disastrous.

Directors:

Sam Green, Bill Siegel

Stars:

Lili Taylor, Pamela Z, Jim Lange

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Lili Taylor	...	Narrator (voice)
Pamela Z	...	Narrator (voice)
Jim Lange	...	Additional Narrator (voice)
Evan White	...	Additional Narrator (voice)
Bernardine Dohrn	...	Herself
Mark Rudd	...	Himself
Brian Flanagan	...	Himself
David Gilbert	...	Himself
Billy Ayers	...	Himself (as Bill Ayers, Bill Ayers)
Naomi Jaffe	...	Herself
Todd Gitlin	...	Himself
Laura Whitehorn	...	Herself
Don Strickland	...	Himself
Kathleen Cleaver	...	Herself

Storyline

In the late 1960s and early 1970s polarization of American political situation was becoming acute, with the Vietnam War abroad and civil rights at home being the most pressing issues. For the youth political movement, seemingly ineffectual methods of peaceful protest and resistance led to the rise of a faction that wanted a more extreme approach that the government could not ignore. One particular group, the Weather Underground, attempted to team up with the Black Panthers to violently confront the US government. They began with participation in street riots, and escalated their efforts to include the bombing of specific targets associated with the government or local power structures. Thorough archival footage and interviews of participants on both sides of this conflict, this film covers the Weather Underground's campaign of violence through this period, the FBI's strategies and tactics to apprehend them (including some deemed unethical or illegal), until changing times and ...

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Plot Keywords:

1970s | government | radical | underground | resistance | 

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Genres:

Documentary | History | War

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [fr] Official website

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 November 2003 (Australia)

Filming Locations:

Berkeley, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$13,984 (USA) (6 June 2003)

Gross:

$560,199 (USA) (21 May 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Free History Project

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Quotes

Kathleen Cleaver: This pattern of harassment is going on against the Black Panther Party across the country. On Friday, the Watts office of the Black Panther Party was bombed and demolished. Last week the Des Moines office was bombed. They can't stop anything we're doing as a legitimate political organization so they come in and shoot us and shoot tear gas at us like they've lost they minds.

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Connections

Features Underground (1976)

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Soundtracks

"Mood for a Summer Sundown"
by Peter Kember (as Kember)
Performed by E.A.R. (as EAR)
Courtesy of Spaceage/Adamsam Records

User Reviews

Shows the complexity behind political violence

It's incredibly rare to see media depict the real root causes behind acts of "terrorism" during today's War On Terror. While Weather Underground does not glorify its subjects behavior, it does create empathy on the part of the viewer... and that alone is revolutionary at this historical point in time. The Weather Underground portrays a time in America's past when the populace was activated in a way that makes today's peace movement look like armchair intellectuals. Is it really just a draft that determines how aggressive our anti-war stance will be? That is pretty sad, since, if that is true, the anti-war movement isn't actually anti-war at all, it's just anti having to fight in a war. This is a documentary about a group of activists who made a true sacrifice, giving up their own freedom to try and stop a war.