American Revolution 2 (1969) User Reviews

Rough but fascinating documentary about Chicago politics in 1968

[runamokprods · 7/10 · 15 June 2010]

Very raw, rough documentary about the riots in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic convention, focusing on the unlikely alliance between the Black Panthers and a group of poor southern whites now living in Chicago calling themselves the 'Young Patriots' – complete with confederate flags.

Boring at moments, incoherent at others, but overall a fascinating capturing of a moment in history where there was the beginning of an understanding, now seemingly lost, that the real issue in America isn't race, but class.

A valuable reminder that the politics of the 60s were more complex than the cliché versions we see portrayed in modern popular culture.

archives of history

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 6 February 2022]

It's the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. The footage from the streets is very compelling. It is basically a news channel special without the narrating reporter. It's worthwhile to get a sense of the vibe of the protests. Far less compelling is the Black Panther class discussion. Quite frankly, some of the same discussions are happening today but it's too unstructured to be a good watch. It doesn't the power of the street footage. The film looses its kinetic energy in the second half but its usefulness as archival footage is still there.

What a wonderful world it could be

[realtimerealtalk · 9/10 · 26 December 2023]

The summary for this film suggests that this a Black Panthers (read: social justice) doc, a lazy hubristic take that contextualizes the film immediately from a racial perspective.

American Revolution 2 is about the fallout of 1960s idealism meeting its first clash with the wave of indifferent capitalism that would change how neighborhoods were managed by the city, regardless of race. It's about the working class of Chicago briefly uniting and transparently discussing the urban dynamics of poverty, property, housing, and crime-primarily the police's colorblind violent harassment.

Ultimately it's a snapshot of 60s idealism coming to a halt through the lens of racially diverse working class narrators who don't find a solution but do imagine-together-what a better Chicago(US) might look like.

american rev 2

[mossgrymk · 5/10 · 3 February 2022]

I assume that the title of this meandering, unfocused documentary with extremely poor sound quality (I understood maybe 60% of what people were saying and they were shouting, for the most part) is meant to be ironic. Otherwise it would mean that director Howard Alk takes the Young Patriots seriously as change agents and that would make him a bit of a dope. This scruffy bunch of Appalachian migrants to Chicago has the good idea of allying with the Black Panthers but like most good ideas that go nowhere there is a distinct lack of follow through...an alarming dearth of black faces at the community meeting with the police...and a misguided emphasis on "kill the pig" rather than "elect local progressives". Hopefully Black Lives Matter can avoid these traps. Give it a C.