PBS continues its tradition of bringing independent film right to your living room with a new season of Independent Lens. And here on Engage, we’re going one step further by offering you access to one of the filmmakers himself: Brett Morgen.
Morgen is the award-winning writer, director and producer of "Chicago 10," the first film in this season’s lineup. The film aired on PBS last night. "Chicago 10" provides a fresh look at the anti-war protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. (The title of the film refers to the eight activists and their two defense attorneys.) Morgen blends motion-capture animation and archival footage to tell the story of the protests and subsequent trial.
As he explains on the film's website, "By animating the trial I (realized that I) would not only avoid all of the clichés of historical non-fiction, but I would also be able to make a statement about the circus-like nature of that courtroom." When watching the film, it is easy to see the relevance of the events of 40 years ago to the current election season and political culture.
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."
We are thrilled to have Brett Morgen join us in this edition of "Five Good Questions." Ask him your questions about the film or his craft in the comments section below.As usual, I will choose five of your questions for him to answer. Check back for his answers in the coming weeks.
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Live action vs animation
Hi Brett,
I am looking forward to watching Chicago 10 next week. I am curious to know why you produced Chicago 10 with animation instead of using only live action and real images from 1968 DNC protests and consequent trial. Have you always been interested in animation? Were you influenced by other filmmakers or films such as Richard Linklater's, A Scanner Darkly?
Today's conventions are so
Today's conventions are so much more scripted. Do you think something of the magnitude of what happened in 1968 could ever happen again?
I would certainly hope
I would certainly hope something like that would happen if a large segment of its' populace felt the government was involved in something so flagrantly wrong. In fact it is our duty to do so; I only wish I hadn't been so alienated at that time and had become more active in protesting the war. I think having those "mini-heroes" that were willing to be heard is a tribute to the human spirit and conscience in this country.
Let's never forget we can fight "for" our country by believing it is worth it to fight against it.
How do you get inspiration
How do you get inspiration for your films? Why did you pick this topic?
1968 vs. 2008
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? And, how is the Bush regime similar to and different from the Chicago Police Department of 1968?
1968 vs. 2008
I am also interested in learning how we got from the type of activism in 1968 to what we saw at the 2008 conventions.
I'm not sure that we can say that young people today are apathetic. Thousands have turned out for protests against the Iraq war and George Bush over the last eight years. Thousands are involved in the political campaigns. But its true, we didn't get 15,000 young people to attempt sleeping in St. Paul parks for the RNC convention.
Maybe because of what happened in Chicago, the generations after 1968 are less likely to march in protests than they are to do volunteer for an organization, or a campaign. I think we are more interested in smaller incremental change, than looking for big societal changes. Maybe its because we don't think we can stop a war. Or we are scared of big protests.
I also think its hard for young people to identify with 60's radicals because the movement is so often mocked for their extremes and for so many of the mistakes. This film reminds us how brave they were for heading out into the streets facing tanks.
Chicago
What effect do you think the events portrayed in your film had on the presidential election? What would Abbie Hoffman be doing today if he was alive and kicking during this election?
Question
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?
conspircy
I have great concerns that this election's results will be tampered with and that trained rally-busters (check out Naomi Wolfe' reference to the Bush's trained military"First Brigade, etc.)are in place to handle any repercussions from Obama supporters or those who are savvy, "actively engaged citizens" protesting. Do you have any further information?
Chicago 10
One of the greatest presentations of our past ever viewed in my opinion. I think that era in our history was very dark when those in power saw fit to wage a "mini-war" against its citizens just so they could wage a much larger one halfway around the world.
I kept seeing images of Nazi Germany and making comparisons between the police in this country and Hitler's gestapo. What is most striking was how the police felt justified in using force against protesters as was mandated by their superiors. Didn't we execute german soldiers for following out orders for excecuting innocent people? What about all the innoncent beaten people that got in their way in Chicago and where is the element of human respect when push comes to shove?
And then there was the way the protesters were mistreated as being less than human when they were thrown into paddy-wagons and hauled off to jail as though they were the problem in a world gone mad. Seeing the police in those clips sickened me as to what the U.S. had become.
How and why did we allow the "war machine" in Washington get so far out of control? Was this not a spin-off of the MacCarthy era when we still were paranoid about the infiltation of communism from within?
And finally, why was the war so vital to our "leaders" at the time. How can one idealogy extinguish another with genocide when if you have a superior one to begin with; it doesn't require an army to force it on the rest of the world. It doesn't take a genius to know our system can't possibly be a "cure-all" for the rest of the world when we have yet to seen clearly out of the mess we have here. We don't even know if Democracy can stand the test of time in our history, do we?
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