Film’s Rage Still Relevent

Sam Green told the crowd of students, faculty and staff that assembled Monday night for the showing of his documentary film "The Weather Underground" in Reynolds Performance Hall that he wanted young people to know about the violent phase of American history and use it to relate to events in today's world.

"I hope the issues that the film raises are still timely and still important," Green said.

In his introduction to the film, he encouraged the audience to think about the information and draw their own conclusions. The "moral ambiguity" of the subject matter, as Green put it, steeped the film in controversy when it was released in 2002. It later was nominated for an Academy Award.

"The Weather Underground" examines a failed attempt to overthrow the United States government in the 1970s by extreme student activists known as The Weathermen, and later The Weather Underground.

The Weathermen formed when a few leaders of the peaceful activist group Students for a Democratic Society branched off to pursue radical protest techniques. These students felt a stronger desire to lash out as the Vietnam War's death toll rose and African-American citizens were frequently discriminated against.

First, the "Days of Rage" movement was organized to gather thousands of young people armed with baseball bats and tire irons to wreak havoc in the streets of American cities. However, only a few hundred showed up at the first demonstration in Chicago, foreshadowing the slow decline in support for The Weathermen as they became more radical.

"At first there were about 300 people in the group," Green said, "but at the end there were around 75."

Throughout the early 1970s, The Weatherman bombed buildings to protest unfair treatment of African-Americans, the expansion of the war in Vietnam and to show support for other revolutionary movements. No one was killed in any of the bombings.

"I can see both sides," Green said. "I'm not terribly put off by what they did but, strategically, it didn't work. Middle-class people were put off by the violence."

Green answered questions from audience members after the screening. He was asked his opinion about the lack of political activism among today's young people.

"Where is the rage today?" one man asked.

"It's a much more complicated time," Green said. "Young people have more preoccupations in the world today but the Occupy Wall Street movement is pretty remarkable ... at expressing rage."

One audience member said he found the group's actions to be unjustifiable because of the violence involved.

"This was only 20 years after World War II and they didn't want to be 'good Germans,'" Green responded, referring to the German public who didn't oppose the Nazi persecution of Jews.

"They were pretty naive," Green said of The Weathermen. "They had this idea that they were going to organize working class kids for a revolution. It was kind of patronizing."

Green, who is an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco, said he enjoys showing the film on college campuses and interacting with students, but he particularly enjoys spreading his own brand of activism - making films.

"If you want to make a film, don't just sit around or wait for someone to give you money." said Green. "I'd say 'just do it,' but that's already been taken."

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