Inside PBS Blog

We had the pleasure of having Brett Morgen on our "Five Good Questions" series. Well, Brett Morgen has answered your questions.

Morgen's prior film credits include the acclaimed 1999 boxing documentary "On the Ropes," for which he earned an Academy Award nomination. He also directed the 2002 feature film "The Kid Stays in the Picture" about acclaimed Hollywood director Robert Evans, which spawned the animated television series "Kid Notorious." Morgen's latest film, "Chicago 10," recently aired on Independent Lens.

Without further ado, here are Brett Morgen's answers to your questions. Feel free to tell us what you think about the film or his answers in the comments.

Today's conventions are so much more scripted. Do you think something of the magnitude of what happened in 1968 could ever happen again? Amanda

It's hard for me to imagine it happening on such a large scale.  While there were several incidents reported in St. Paul this year, I don't think any party would go as far as the Chicago Police Department.  And if they did, it definitely wouldn't be documented on 16mm!  While I don't have any proof, I am certain that Convention organizers today are well aware of the problems that plagued Chicago and go out of there way to avoid the same mistakes.  Unfortunately, some of those mistakes were made in Saint Paul this year, but as I said, on a much smaller scale.

And while my film doesn't deal with convention politics, I can't imagine another convention quite like Chicago 68.

How do you get inspiration for your films? Why did you pick this topic? Steve

While most documentarians are driven by content, I actually am slightly more motivated by form.  When I land on a subject that interests me, I look to see what type of canvas it offers me.  I'm not interested in making traditional documentaries.  I like playing with the form and finding different ways to approach it.  

In 1988 I took a class called Ethnographic Film during my freshman year at Hampshire College because it seemed like an easy way to get some credits.  At the time I had no real interest in documentary filmmaking but was obsessed with narrative films, particularly the French New Wave.  The class ended up being a survey course that looked at the evolution of the form, from Lumiere to Errol Morris.  I became fascinated with different approaches to the genre, particularly Flaherety and a little film called THE NUER about a tribe in Africa.  It was then that I realized that non-fiction is like the last frontier, a vast wasteland in which anything goes.  We are only limited by our imagination.  For too many years, journalists have owned the genre.  For me, when one embarks on a project, they need to ask themselves, is this the best medium for this story?  How can I exploit the medium in a way that brings my story to life.

The events of Chicago provided me with a perfect canvas for these explorations.

Your film draws some great conclusions about the why and how of the 1968 DNC protests and ensuing riots in Chicago. You capture the unraveling of the whole convention and even draw fascinating conclusions about the underlying reasons for the unrest and the government's reaction. Why do you think youth today are not mobilizing to protest in such great numbers as in 1968? Patrick Baroch

Today's college students are as active as any generation before them, protest however has gone from the streets to the internet...and for good reason...it's a lot harder to get hit in the head with a billy club from the comforts of your own home!

For some people, the ultimately message of Chicago 10 is that those types of street protests proved futile.  The war continued for 6 more years and in the end Nixon won the election.  Everyone can draw their own conclusions.  I think that there may be more street protests if we had a draft, but that's pure conjecture.  

I do think that street protests serve one vital function; they create a visceral image of dissent that can be disseminated across the globe.  And we do live in a world that is defined by images.

What effect do you think the events portrayed in your film had on the presidential election? What [do you think Abbie Hoffman would] be doing today if he was alive and kicking during this election? Wendy

I think the protestors in Chicago helped get Nixon elected.  But then again, for the Yippies, I don't think they cared whether it was Nixon, McGovern, Humphrey, or Pigasus.  Nor do I think they should be blamed for Nixon's election.  The democrats blew it...the media blew it.  If the world had been exposed to the violence in Chicago as depicted in my film then perhaps things might have been different.  However, the way the media depicted the events at that time, it was hard for most Americans to see that these were indeed "police riots" and not acts of anarchy

Hunter S. Thompson wrote about Chicago '68 and how what he saw there affected him. It seemed to be a catalyst in his life that altered his politics and engaged his activism. Has making this film had any similar effect on your outlook? Kevin

To be honest, I think the experience of making this film has made me less inclined to use film in an overtly political way again.  I spent four years crafting this film and we had a really difficult time getting audiences to see it.  I think this was in large part due to the political nature of the film.  Audiences don't really want to go to the cinema to see political docs without a star like Michael moore or Bill Maher.  Around the same time chicago 10 was released, Errol Morris, Morgan Spurlock, and Alex Gibney all released political documentaries that failed to make one million dollars collectively.  The highest grossing doc this year...U23D.

It's hard to invest that much time into a project and not have people experience it the way it was intended, in the cinema.   That said, I am quite fortunate that Independent Lens decided to broadcast the film which has helped me reach a much larger audience that I could in the cinema.

Back to your question....it was impossible not to be affected by the imagery that we experienced on a daily basis for four years.  For me, Chicago 10 challenges the viewer, myself included, to ask themselves, am I doing enough?  How far am I willing to go for my own political beliefs.  For me, the true heroes of the film are not the leaders, but the faceless protestors who marched down Michigan Ave on that final night, knowing that they were walking into a slaughter, but they refused to be silent.  I often ask myself if I would have had the courage.

I would like to thank everyone for your thoughtful questions and for taking the time to watch Chicago 10.  

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