Sundance: Chicago 10 Movie Review

From the filmmaker that brought us The Kid Stays in the Picture comes an animated docudrama about the infamous 1960's Chicago Democratic National Convention riot. Brett Morgen's new film combines real life news footage with cell-shaded computer animated sequences (cheaper looking visuals similar to Waking Life or A Scanner Darkly) to fill in the blanks and tell the story of the infamous Chicago Seven trial.

In the wake of Martin Luther King's death, the resulting riots and fires resulted in Chicago becoming a police state. A revolutionary group of hippies named the Yuppies crossed state lines to conduct an unpermitted protest in Lincoln Park. A riot broke out resulting in some of the worst police brutality of the century.

But most of the story is retold within the famous trial, using the aforementioned animation to reenact court transcriptions, flashing-back from time to time. The use of animation is brilliant because the events that transcribe in the courtroom are-almost too unbelievable and surreal for a filmed reenactment. But the real gem is when the film hit's it's climax and we are transported into the middle of the all out riot using an unprecedented amount of video sources. The result is very moving.'

The film is edited to a soundtrack of anti-establishment music from yesteryear and today. The film has an eerie relevance to the current politics of today. I've always found it ironic that we must FIGHT for PEACE. It's sad to see out nation in such an incontrollable state. It makes you wonder how it came to this and could we be headed to that place again. I hope not.

/Film Rating: 6 out of 10