Movies

At the River I Stand

40 Years After: Filming the ’68 Revolution

This week marks the 40th anniversary of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, when the whole world watched police and protesters clash in the city’s parks and streets. To commemorate that milestone, Facets Cinematheque is presenting a week-long series of films about the social and political upheavals of the late 60s, including dramas and documentaries, ranging from familiar titles to archival rarities.

Opening the series is The War at Home (Fri 8/22, 7 PM), an Oscar-nominated documentary about the antiwar movement, followed by At the River I Stand (Fri 8/22, 9 PM), which chronicles the Memphis garbage workers strike that culminated in the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Jonathan Rosenbaum calls Mark Kitchell’s 1990 documentary Berkeley in the 60s (Sat 8/23, 7 PM) “a near definitive account of the Free Speech Movement . . . informed throughout by a keen sense of political and historical process.” Mike Gray and Howard Alk’s The Murder of Fred Hampton (Sat 8/23, 9:15 PM), about the Chicago police raid that claimed the life of the Black Panther leader, includes footage that helped disprove the cops’ version of what happened. Viktor Polesny’s 1968 (Sun 8/24, 5 PM) is a new history of the Prague Spring, when the Czech democratic movement was crushed by Soviet tanks, and Winter Soldier (Wed 8/27, 9 PM) records the war crimes testimony given by Vietnam vets during the Winter Soldier Investigation in February 1971.

Some of these documentaries have screened around town over the past few years, but not so the assorted newsreels and agitprop collected in the three “Reelvolution” shorts programs. The first (Sat 8/23, 3 PM) includes Yippie, the official statement of the Youth International Party, and Trick Bag, a Kartemquin Films documentary about racism in Chicago. The second (Mon 8/25, 9 PM) features RFK, John Frankenheimer’s official campaign film about the New York senator’s ill-fated run for president; Campaign, Tom Palazzolo’s take on Mayor Richard J. Daley; and Up Against the Wall Miss America, about the protofeminist disruptions at the 1968 beauty pageant. The last program (Tue 8/26, 7 PM) centers on the Black Panthers, with the newsreels Off the Pig Black Panther, Mayday (Black Panther), and Pig Power.

The majority of the films screening are documentaries, but there are also four dramatic features rooted in the conflict of the times. You may already have seen Haskell Wexler’s Medium Cool (Thu 8/28, 7 PM), with Robert Forster as a news cameraman caught up in the convention riots, and Barry Shear’s Wild in the Streets (Thu 8/28, 9:15 PM), a satire about a pop star who’s elected president. Less available are Louis Malle’s May Fools (Sun 8/24, 1 PM), about a family squabbling over an inheritance during the May 1968 riots in Paris, and Norman Mailer’s Maidstone (Tue 8/26, 9 PM), about a film director (Mailer) who’s running for president.

Tickets are $9, $5 for Facets members; for a complete schedule see facets.org/cinematheque. Facets Cinematheque, 1517 W. Fullerton, 773-281-4114. --J.R. Jones

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