If there's one thing this year's Sundance Film Festival will achieve is that it's going to set the documentary genre on its ear. It definitely seems like the filmmakers behind Nanking and War/Dance were trying a few innovative ideas, but it can't be clearer than with Brett Morgen's third film and the festival opener, Chicago 10. There was a lot of excitement in the makeshift screening room set-up at the Yarrow Hotel for the first of three press screenings of the film, as attending critics and journalists prepared for what would be the first of many movies over the next week.
Chicago 10 is the Heavy Metal of anti-war docs, and not just for the inventive animation that recreates the kangaroo court trial of 8 anti-war protestors claimed to be responsible for the riot-causing marches during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, but also for the attitude that drives Morgen's film. At its core, this political doc effectively shows the similarities and differences in the near 40 years since that landmark case took place, by recreating the events that led up to it.
Morgen uses a lot of amazing archival footage, not only from the actual protests where thousands of young people squatted in Lincoln Park and tried to get President Lyndon Johnson to answer for his decision to draft thousands of young men to fight in Vietnam, but also footage of Abby Hoffman and Jerry Rubin planning the rallies and talking to students about the trial afterwards.
When Morgen doesn't have decent footage to work with, he creates it, using lively animation that looks like the rotoscoping from Richard Linklater's Waking Life, though most of it must have been created from scratch. He uses an impressive cast of actors to portray the trial participants, recreating the events from the court transcripts. Considering that there probably weren't any cameras in the courtroom during the trial, it's pretty amazing what Morgen achieves with this idea. (At times, he also creates animated segments based on audio tapes of Hoffman calling into New York's WBAI during the trial.) The entire trial is a complete mockery of justice, so the Yippie group mostly clowns around, driving the elderly Judge Hoffman (no relation) to rage. Their equally long-haired lawyers are not given much of a chance to defend their clients properly with Black Panther leader Bobby Seale (voiced by Jeffrey Wright), who wanted to defend himself, getting treated deplorably by the court. Hank Azaria does a decent job voicing Abby Hoffman and Alan Ginsberg, but the most surprising reveal is the fact that it's Roy Scheider unrecognizable voice as the judge.
The animation is blended so seamlessly with actual footage of Hoffman and Rubin that you quickly forget you're watching a (mostly) animated film with moments where Morgen uses the medium to humorous effect with visuals that make the already ludicrous court proceedings even funnier. Who would think that Abby Hoffman would make such a great cartoon character? Brett Morgen, that's who, and that's what makes Chicago 10 such an amazing effort, because he effectively shows the events, while using the real footage to prove the innocence of the 10 men who ended up being sent to prison.
It's kind of a shame that Morgen didn't get the film done in time for the 2004 elections, because there are some interesting comparisons to be made to the protests at the Republican National Convention in New York...the irony being that the movement back then was fighting against the Democratic leadership with similar negligible results. Like with last year's excellent The U.S. vs. John Lennon, it reminds us how there isn't really an Abby Hoffman or a Jerry Rubin or even an Allen Ginsberg to rally today's kids to try to speak out or do something about the war, and sadly, most of the younger generation who needs to see this movie, won't be very interested.
Fortunately, Morgen's in pretty good shape at his movie finding distribution, because everyone attending the fest will try to see the opening movie, and it'll be good to get buyers' attention while they still have money to spend. It'll be interesting to see where this doc ends up and whether they can market the film in a way that it can reach a wide audience of politically-minded individuals.
Fingers crossed, I'll have an interview with Brett Morgen sometime this weekend.
