Sunday, March 2, 2008

"Medium Cool" and "Chicago 10" succeed in putting viewers squarely in the middle of the anarchy that swirled around the Democratic National Convention in 1968. Here are three other films that vividly depict the conflicts and ideals that defined the 1960s.

"Winter Soldier" (1972) documents the 1971 Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathering in Detroit, where more than two dozen Vietnam veterans gathered to testify about the atrocities they committed and observed while fighting in Southeast Asia. (It was during his report of the hearings to Congress that John Kerry famously asked, "How do you ask a man to be the last man who dies in Vietnam?") Rereleased in a handsome DVD edition by Milestone Films two years ago, "Winter Soldier" is by turns moving, infuriating and timely, as it demonstrates the sheer unadorned power of bearing witness.

"The Weather Underground" (2002), by Sam Green and Bill Siegel, chronicles the notorious antiwar group formed in 1969, whose terrorist tactics culminated in three of its members dying while making a bomb in a Greenwich Village townhouse. As solid as Green's history is, it's his present-day interviews with former Weathermen that are the most haunting, especially the reflections of the deeply conflicted Brian Flanagan, who mournfully observes, "When you feel you have right on your side, you can do some pretty horrific things."

"The U.S. vs. John Lennon" (2006) may not seem to fit in this category, but David Leaf and John Scheinfeld's wonderful film about Lennon's activism and the American government's pushback provides a moving testimonial in itself, both to artistic and political commitment and to Lennon's epic love affair with Yoko Ono.

-- Ann Hornaday