The Weather Underground

The Weather Underground (2002), directed by Bill Segel and Sam Green, documents the rise and fall of the 60s era revolutionary group. The filmmakers present the anti-government radical activities in the context of a culture of protest and civil unrest. The Weathermen split off from other activists groups who were using mostly peaceful means to protest the war in Vietnam. The Weathermen instead went underground and bombed several offices in response to government violence. They worked in hiding and were largely isolated from other protest groups who publicly distanced themselves from the Weathermen. However, by the time the US withdrew from Vietnam, the group had begun to lose internal cohesion, and the end of the war left them without a central focus. By the eighties most of them had turned themselves in. Because prosecuting them would expose many ways in which the FBI broke the law in pursuing them, many of the group did not serve sentences. Many of these members are still involved in social activism.

I thought this was a great documentary. It really provides a sense of who these radicals were and what motivated them, and it was fascinating to listen to them now and hear them reflect on their involvement.