As the old French philosopher said, forgive me writing such a long letter. I didn't have time to write a short one. By rights, this review should be all over in the few words that it merits. But here goes.
In the year of this interview (1968), in which Eldridge Cleaver, co-leader of the Black Panthers is receiving polite, respectful, almost deferential treatment from America's most revered conservative writer, Cleaver had been arrested for breaking parole, charged with attempted murder, and fled to Cuba after jumping bail. While in prison, he had raped black women, but only as a rehearsal for his true mission which was to rape white women. A little earlier he had falsely imprisoned Timothy Leary in Africa for taking drugs, which he disapproved of at the time, though he later became a cocaine addict. A little later, he went to North Korea, whose regime he heartily endorsed. Later still, he crossed the floor and voted for Reagan - just to show a bit of consistency.
Here we get one hour of his wit and wisdom, where we see him influencing the young (clearly students) in a style that can only be called '1968'. Apparently, all those who disagree with him are classified as 'the Pigs'. And he boasts that Black Panther is not responsible to the Pigs, but to the People. ("I can't see any reason for having Richard Nixon alive today.")
The tilt of his head gives away a lot - truculent, leering, eyes half-closed (rather like Lenin). The voice is deceptively quiet, while issuing scrambled Marxist propaganda about the armed struggle, on which he would soon split from the Panthers - before they disintegrated altogether. And to think that English novelist John Berger donated half his Booker cash prize to this group, which he saw as the true hope of the future.