I have long been fascinated by the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the police action that took place outside. It’s one of the most bizarre scenes of fascism ever seen in American history and has moments of such violence and absurdity that it plays like black comedy. That the ‘68 election season included the deaths of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. and the eventual election of Richard Nixon puts a tragic note on the whole thing, but in times of enormous political repression, it’s useful to look at this farcical moment in American politics.
The street riots and the subsequent trial of a diverse set of defendants has been documented previously, both through documentary and dramatic recreation, but director Brett Morgen takes another shot at it in the new film Chicago 10, which blends computer animation of the characters involved and archival footage. In his introduction of the screening at Silverdocs, Morgen said he was trying to recreate the emotional experience of the whole thing, rather than offering a history lesson. In fact, the actual events tend to get quite complicated and Morgen does not try to lay out every single fact and figure in chronological order. Instead, he goes back and forth from the trial in Judge Julius Hoffman’s courtroom to the events that brought the defendants there.
No surprise, Abby Hoffman is the breakout character. He’s a trickster, a prankster, a joker, and a smoker. The Yippies set up a piece of political theater, setting up situations in which they would almost dare the authorities to respond. Separate from the serious-minded National Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam (MOBE) — and Bobby Seale, who shouldn’t have even been a part of the trial and was eventually separated — the Yippies kind of deserved to be convicted of deliberate provocation. At the same time, given how ridiculously repressive the Chicago authorities were, from Mayor Richard J. Daley to Judge Hoffman, you gain a grudging respect for the Yippies’ political theater, which begins to seem the only way to beat these bozos at their own game — by exposing their ridiculousness.
For example, Hoffman and Rubin came into court one day with judge’s robes on. They blew kisses to the jury. They openly mocked. Given that when Judge Hoffman got tired of Seale’s outbursts and ordered him chained, gagged and bound to a chair, the process seems in desperate need of mockery.
Some of the scenes of the police violence in Chicago are very viscerally recreated, with the cops appearing as nightmarish ogres, rising out of the dark (in one scene, accompanied by the song “War Pigs”). Contemporary music is used, such as Rage Against the Machine and Eminem. In one terrific sequence, we see the taking of the hill in Logan Park, set to the Beastie Boys song “Sabotage” (You can see an excerpt of the scene on YouTube, but the whole sequence is brilliant).
Generally speaking, the animation is a little too Sims-like, but it does come across like some really odd community in Second Life. As Morgen said in one interview, the people who want this movie to offer a history lesson already know the history. Instead, this movie offers some lessons to people who never even knew the history at all.
Tags: Silverdocs, Brett Morgen, Chicago 10, 1968 Democratic National Convention, documentary