Why I Watched this Movie
This documentary came out in 2015. I think I remember seeing some of the buzz for it on the Internet at the time, but couldn't track it down because I was out here in Asia. But it's the kind of thing that would really interest me. I'm a huge fan of history documentaries in general, and the Black Panthers have always been one of my interests in particular. (I was really interested in the Black Panthers in my youth. See for example these school papers I wrote on the Black Panthers: here and here).
Some kind soul uploaded the documentary onto Youtube. I stumbled upon it the other day while searching for old clips of the Black Panthers.
I watched just a couple minutes of it, and I was hooked. The documentary just pulls you in, and I couldn't stop watching. And then I had to watch the whole thing.
I doubt the Youtube version is approved by the copyright holders, but for the time being it's online, so I'll link it down below.
Vanguard of the Revolution- The Real Story of the Black Panther Party
The Review
I'm coming to this documentary after years of being interested in the Black Panthers, so I knew a lot of the shocking stuff already. But I'm sure for some younger people out there, this is going to be the first time they hear about COINTELPRO or the assassination of Fred Hampton or the murder of Bobby Hutton, etc. And for those people, I'm sure this this movie will blow their minds. (One Youtube commenter writes: they need to show this documentary in all us high school history classes.)
On the plus side, the documentary has done an incredible job of shifting through the archival footage, and combining it with a great soundtrack to create a fascinating and entertaining viewing experience.
The documentary moves at breakneck speed. I guess they have to in order to cover everything in 2 hours. But you could make a long, long list of things that are completely omitted from the documentary, or which are included in the documentary but never explained.
One example out of many: the documentary spends a lot of time on the free Huey movement, but never attempts to explain what happened on the night Huey Newton was arrested, or what happened in the trial or why Huey Newton was acquitted. Presumably the filmmakers felt they didn't have time to open that can of worms, and still cram everything else in under 2 hours.
And there are so, so many other things like that in the documentary.
But if you accept the documentary as simply an introduction to the Black Panther history, and not the definitive account (or in cases of us older folks, a review of the history), then it's a really entertaining 2 hours.
To really do the Black Panther Party justice, you'd need a 10 hour Ken Burns style docu-miniseries. Apparently HBO is working on developing one. But while we wait for that to come out, my favorite documentary series on the Civil Rights movement is Eyes on the Prize. It's not only about the Black Panthers, but the Black Panthers come in a lot during the later episodes.
Entire Playlist HERE
Rating :
9 out of 10 stars. I almost gave this 10 Stars. It deserves 10 Stars just based on presentation and entertainment factors, but in the end I decided that all the historical omissions deserved taking at least 1 star off.
Video Review
Video review HERE and embedded below:
Link of the Day
Chomsky on the Black Panthers and Cointelpro
No comments:
Post a Comment