While not director Emile de Antonio's finest, UNDERGROUND is still a compelling piece of film-making, capturing in-depth interviews with members of the 60s/70s radical Weathermen. Bernadine Dohrn is front and center as she and other "comrades" explain themselves. They are alternately fascinating and cringe-inducing. These "kids" come across as, if not insane, extremely naive. Realizing that peaceful demonstration was not going to help them overthrow the US government, they resorted to violence (specifically bombings) to further their unrealized goals. Intercut with scenes of various protests and revolutions (from Malcolm X to Fidel Castro), the film makes the group's cause seem idealistic to the point of being absurd as the interview subjects compare the US to Russia before their revolution! Nevertheless, de Antonio and cameraman Haskell Wexler have created an intriguing time-capsule.
Review of Underground
