University Daily Kansan
Friday.May 7.1976
'Underground' stars Weathermen
By BILL UYEKI
Reviewer
The Weather Underground is a group of dedicated, hard-working leftists who represent the only remaining activists of the radical youth movement of the late '80s
They've claimed responsibility for 25 terrorist attacks, including the bombing of Chicago police cars after two Black Panthers were killed in 1969, and the bombing of
the U.S. Capitol building after the invasion of Los in 1971.
review
A spin-off from old campus groups, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) the Westerhem say that at least 37 of its members have managed to avoid the FBI, despite some of them being on the FBI's 10 Most wanted list. But they didn't avoid film director Emile de Antonio when he offered to make the subject of a documentary about five Weatherem leaders had resulted in "Underground," an 88-minute documentary film about the Weather Underground.
"Underground," part of the SUA Special Films Series, will be shown at 3:30 p.m., 5:15 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. today and tomorrow. At 10:30 p.m. Sunday in Woodriff Andoritium.
THE MOVIE'S premiere was in Madison, Wis., last week. This week 12 college campuses will be treated to a muck preview before the film debuts in New York. The film is saturated with the same volatile ingredients that marked many campuses, in the '80s.
Steve Schmidt, SUA special films director, who helped bring "Underground" to KU, says he's been interested in the Weathermen since 1969.
De Antonio is no stranger to documentary films of a political nature. His "Point of Order" criticized Sen. Joseph McCarthy. "Rush to Judgment" questioned the examination of John F. Kennedy. "The Invasion" questioned Comedy" resulted in de Antonio ending up on former president Richard M. Nixon's enemies list.
DE ANTONIO WAS ADMITTED that he is a "half-baked radical." After reading the Weathermen's propaganda publication, he was convinced his fall 1974 proposal the film. After their acceptance, he found contacting a group of fulties required tac, being forced to pursue more contacts and swim through it. He had Woodward ever hit with Deep Throat.
De Antonio's aides included Mary Lamboon, who had worked with him on the book.
SHootING "UNDERGROUND" wasn't like shooting a routine documentary.
regarded as one of the best cameramen in Hollywood. Wetler was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in "One Flew Over the Cockrook's Nest."
Dante Antonio and his crew weren't allowed to see the house where the Weathermen took over, so they boarded up; the five Weathermen leaders spent the night in the house with the film makers. The leaders were Billy Ayers, Mike Dohm, Jeff Jones and Cathy Wilkerson.
IN SUMMER 1975, they were subposed by a federal district court in Los Angeles to challenge the conviction of two negatives and tapes. De Antonio and his crew claimed that this action violated their First Amendment rights and that the subpoena was a harmful form of prior disclosure.
Support for the film makers can in many forms. The Boston Globe, for example, criticized the court's action, because the value is critical to the people's need "to know."
Wexler was careful not to film any of the fugitives' faces, because they occasionally came into a mirror located behind the leaders; all that is seen in the film are the leaders' backs and the faces of the film crew. He also insisted through a mesh to conceal facial features.
But the filmmakers had yet to encounter their most difficult obstacle—the federal government.
federal government had attempted to superexamine documentary film, especially if it were submitted to the U.S. courts.
De Antonio and his crew refused to comply with the subpoena, which was later released. The case was settled in 1954.
"Underground" defyly combines dialogue between the fugitives and the film crew with newsreels of many key events in the 1900s. Labor strikes, draft and racial riots, bombings and speeches are shown. Explanations are provided not by newscasters, but by the revolutionaries themselves. The film is an important work, but all can agree that they are opportunities who knew the potential audience a documentary film could reach.
THE WEATHERMEN are tired of sitting cramped on the floor and they're disappointed that the sessions haven't lived up to their expectations. De Antonio and his crew then defend themselves from the verbal assault. This scene takes us all "backstage". It captures the informality of the sessions and the Weathermen's concern for their image in the finished product. It didn't look rehearsed.
One of the film's finest moments is a conversation between the filmmakers and their subjects about filming techniques. This happened after one day of shooting, and actually amounts to being an open criticism session:
Some of us are removed from those days in the 60s. They're just another piece of history, something that we read and wonder about. We've been craveting for what happened in those days.
It's a detailed study of a radical group in a very important era in American history. And in our bicentennial year, what could be better?
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