Double vision

Filmmaker Brett Morgen and activist Tom Hayden give two views on the Chicago Seven trial.

What lessons can we take from Chicago’s 1968 Democratic Convention, the police beating of demonstrators and the subsequent trial of protest organizers, known as the Chicago Seven? Well, that depends on whom you ask. Everyone from Todd Gitlin to Zbigniew Brezinksi has weighed in on the subject, and the whole messy episode has been described as everything from an exposure of the corruption of the legal system to the death knell of constructive ’60s activism. The new film Chicago 10 revisits the debate with a bold mixture of found footage from the week of the convention and a staging of the trial in motion-capture animation, à la Waking Life.

Recently we caught up with Brett Morgen, the director of Chicago 10, and Tom Hayden, one of the subjects of the film. Though we spoke to them separately, we came away with the distinct feeling that Morgen and Hayden were having a conversation, or perhaps a debate, about the meaning of the events. Here are some highlights.

On the film’s goals and success:
Morgen The goal of the film was to create what I call, not a historical documentary, but to try and create the Chicago experience. To create a cinema I call experiential cinema, which is less about the history, more about experiencing history as something visceral.
Hayden Watching it [the film] is like submitting yourself to a flashback. I think that [Morgen] captures the vibration of the street and the culture of the time extremely well. I felt it was very authentic. In my view, though, there could have been more attention to the effect the murder of Robert Kennedy had on the events in Chicago. And the balance of the movie results in a rather abrupt ending; people have congratulated me for being in prison for five years. I only served 30 days.

On the general insanity of the police riot and the trial:
Morgen Middle-class America watched as their sons and daughters were beaten senselessly by their fathers and brothers. And you gotta remember, they were not just beating up protesters. They were beating journalists senseless. And in America, to think that there would be a situation—any situation—in which the media and members of the clergy were attacked viciously in front of cameras is just shocking, and ultimately as a filmmaker, I hate to say it, somewhat of an allure and a seduction.
Hayden It’s like Franz Kafka’s The Trial, where the guy is trying to figure out who is putting him on trial, what he’s done and what the name of his adversary is. I learned how and why people come to be hard-line dogmatists or even join cults. Because it’s so difficult to maintain your sanity in the midst of extreme uncertainty. Are you going to jail for ten years, or are you not? That’s only the beginning of everyday life as a defendant.

On the trial as political theater:
Morgen [defense attorney] Len Weinglass said to me that the sense of timing in that courtroom was amazing. He said, you’ve got to remember, Bobby Seale was a stand-up comedian, and that [defense attorney William] Kunstler and [defendant Abbie] Hoffman had dabbled in theater and acting when they were students. There’s a line in the film from Abbie Hoffman: “It’s all a piece of theater, everyone will play their role.” And that theme resonates throughout the film.
Hayden Maybe Abbie and Jerry [Rubin], by their theatricality, may have reached a larger audience in a positive way than a more straight approach could have done. At the time, I thought it was completely double-edged. They were getting more media attention, but in part, it made us all look like fools to our parents’ generation. And they said, well that’s what we want. We want to provoke our parents’ generation.

On the film’s interpretation of the events:
Morgen I would say the movie is somewhat yippycentric. We wanted it to have a sense of fun and a sense of irreverence, particularly the first two acts of the film, with the idea being, like the yippies, we invite the audience in with sex, drugs and rock & roll, and then once they’re there, and having a great time at the party, it becomes a little more sober in the third act; personalities are taken out of the picture, music’s taken out of the picture, and you’re left with the brutality of the imagery.
Hayden I thought that it emphasized a triumph for Hoffman’s idea that it was all about theater. I think Brett would say that it’s the Abbie Hoffman story. Abbie lives from the grave.

Chicago 10 opens Friday.

---