Chicago 10 (2008)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

hyped garbage

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Admirable film.

Chicago Ten is a mix of actual film and animated recreations using the transcripts of the trial of Chicago Ten (voiced by actors)that happened in the aftermath of the 1968 Democratic convention in ... Chicago. What happened was that The Yippies and anti-war groups showed up to protest and they locked horns with Mayor Daley and his machine who were looking for a fight. Everyone knew it was going to happen and when the violence occurred there were arrests that set in motion the trial that is the subject of the film. The film itself is quite good. The animation puts us in the court room allows the words of everyone involved to hang themselves. To my eyes the establishment come off looking foolish and in many ways the Yippies do too (clearly they saw it all a a big game). It was a necessary evil in away but I really wish that there had been a better bunch of heroes.On a personal note, In a weird way the film left a bad taste in my mouth, not because it was a bad film, rather because I saw this right after seeing Chris Marker's Grin Without a Cat. Marker's film is a look at political protest in the world in the 1960's and 1970's and how the stakes were so much higher in say Prague where the Russians were coming to into crush the rebellion or in other places where people were dying for their beliefs. Seeing the antics of people like Abby Hoffman made me wonder how seriously the protesters were taking it.My own reflections on history aside, this is a very good film and should be seen by anyone who wants to know what happened in Chicago in 1968.

Brett Morgan's Chicago 10 might not deliver any groundbreaking revelations about one of the most notorious of protests-gone-bad sagas in American history, where after four days and nights (mostly) non-violent protesters and loaded-for-bear police clashed horrifically on the streets of Chicago and then the masterminds in the 'Yippies' (i.e. Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin) were put on a trial where all were sent to some jail time. It's not about revelations, per-say, though one might say that the story itself- encompassing 1968's volcanic political and societal tumult- could be a revelation for some younger audience members numbed out by cable news and desensitization. What it's about is presentation, of taking apart agitprop of the period, assembling it together with rotoscoping of the Chicago 7 trial, music from the likes of Rage Against the Machine, Eminem and the Beastie Boys, and loads of raw footage documenting much of the actual on-the-street and behind-closed-doors action in Chicago. It's probably the most striking sort one's seen since The Filth and the Fury, however in a context of instead 70s punk rock 1968's culmination of anti-war demonstration.It's an ugly, breathtaking and (unlikely) savagely funny movie, where older viewers can experience their memories of a time and place in a sometimes bizarre and sometimes sobering context (of hindsight being '20-20') and younger viewers (i.e. guys and gals in their 20s and 30s) get a peek at an era that seems all the more ballsy in the perspective of America's involvement in Iraq. Morgan also does something a little dangerous, but successful, in portraying the "heroes" for all they were in this time and place: stalwart idealists in the guise of immature not-totally American insurgents whose 'spiritual experimenter' was oft-meditating poet-dude Allen Ginsberg. What to think of these men like Abbie Hoffmann and the leader of the Black Panthers? A little biased? Perhaps - but in light of how the trial went down, why carp?It's editing is fast-paced, but not too much so, and its technique of animation is multi-faceted. On top of the rotoscoping (some of the best in recent memory along with A Scanner Darkly), there's a night-time demonstration done in 2-D, like something out of a nightmare with its somewhat primitive movement, and then the figures of the Chicago 7 appearing before crowds (usually with great voice-work from Hank Azaria, Dylan Baker and Mark Ruffalo, plus a great career finale from Roy Scheider as the cantankerous judge in the trial). It's the kind of visual assault that for the prepared is like a bit of ironic bliss.If you've seen the trailer, or know a bit about the trial, or about Chicago in 68 (which Hunter S. Thompson, looking back in just 1972, said brought him to tears), or just about the friction between anti and the establishment, you'll know if this is for you. It certainly is like nothing else you'll see this year as a piece of sublime, subversive history. 9.5/10

If you can't always get real footage, create your own. Brett Morgen revisited the courtroom of the Chicago 7's 1968 trial as truthfully as possible, a lesson every film maker should take. Mr. Morgen paid full respect to the 7 revolutionaries (David Dellinger, Abbie Hoffman "a sort of rock star", William Kunstler, Jerry Rubin, Bobby Seale, and Leonard Weinglass) who went to jail for their "thought crimes". I asked myself, how many people do you know who would go to jail for what they believe in today? In showing actual found footage, leading from the beginning of the democratic convention up until their arrest and sentence a year later as well as animation inside the courtroom, we see the power of the people at its best. The use of animation was a new and maybe risky way to show the insides of the courtroom, some will hate it and some will love it, but to me it goes along with the reality of what happened in the park/streets/etc, vs. the surreality and of the courtroom. It also ties in to the fact that we usually just see a drawing of a courtroom, which is pretty dull in comparison to the use of animation here. I can only assume that few will understand the use of motion capture (It's not rotoscope!), or be inspired to try it in their films, and less will see it as problematic in the film. Regarding the authenticity of the courtroom scenes, those scenes were taken from actual transcripts and accounts. The radio phone calls Hoffman made relaying the trial were clearly real sound bytes. Regarding the soundtrack, the only song that I had a bias against was Eminem's, but I was surprised at how well it actually did work with this film's ideals, (although in reality I have never felt like standing up and protesting after hearing an Eminem song). Maybe this film will give Eminem's work a new meaning :) who knows. If you don't know the history or weren't around for this event, (as I wasn't), than you should definitely read up on it before or after seeing this film. Activism is a dying art!!!...I loved what Brett said in his Q+A- "Film making is my way of protesting", something to that extent. Right on.

The story telling in Chicago 10 is inviting. Once inside it transforms the audience into witnesses. With your own senses you see what many have for decades refused to see. It is a work well done. 1968 was a year that changed the US of A as much as May '68 changed France. The movie is not an history lesson. This movie brings us into that time in a way that allows us to reflect not only upon what happened in Chicago, but moreover what was yet to come in the USA. The trial of the Chicago 7 almost did not happen. Ramsey Clark the US Attorney General until January 20, 1969 was not going to allow this case to be prosecuted. After January 20th, Nixon's Attorney General John Mitchell made sure that the silent majority got their show trial. It backfired. The rest is in the movie.