What makes it different from others?

Very well executed

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The Weather Underground is a great documentary because the people it follows have remarkable pasts. Mainstream media has been reluctant to shed any kind of light on American revolutionaries because if it did, the masses would realize that these so called "radicals" actually make a LOT of sense - and the status quo would be jeopardized (perhaps). Which is not to say The Weather Underground (and the Weathermen) didn't make tactical mistakes, because they did, and the filmmakers did not neglect to include some of the stupider aspects of their movement. The drugs and sex and early period of indiscriminate violence are included. Members of the Weathermen speak frankly about some of the mistakes, and it is interesting to see how their opinions have changed since the sixties and seventies. For the most part, though, the members of SDS and the Weathermen were/are very logical, passionate, and educated revolutionaries. Watching this documentary was kind of eye opening for me because apparently (I was born after the era...) revolution was viewed as imminent, people were aware and organized, ready to take action, and it was not so ridiculous to think that positive change could happen. At times the members of the Weather Underground seem a little bit confused and detached. Others, like David Gilbert, (you really should watch the interview with him in the 'features' section) are still very committed and sharp. Overall it's a fascinating and inspiring film, you should check it out.

The Weather Underground was an interesting storytelling of the protest group the Weather Underground. They played an interesting role during a heated time in America from 1970-1980, raising awareness and raising tension throughout the nation as they were growing in notoriety for setting off bombs (literally) in public government buildings every time the US took part in any atrocity. Their message was "Bring the war home" referring to the Vietnam war, which is documented in having a huge death toll by the hands of the US soldiers overseas. If people didn't do anything about the war, they would show Americans what war was by creating war here in the States.This DVD is packed with excellent footage that I've never seen. It offers a viewpoint from the director of what exactly this group of around 30 individuals were thinking about when they decided to take on the US government and its grounds for staying in Vietnam and other actions which the gov't helped in doing. There are plenty of extras on the DVD, including a great commentary by two of the more outspoken members of the Weather Underground, who shed light on their views of other members and their words (which happen to clash with what might've been true). There is full videos of footage from their meetings and a commentary from the director.I can't say if everything that was on the DVD was true for the time, even when everything seems to be in order historically and fact-worthy. As I watched this documentary, though, I got a deeper sense of a mission gone a-wry and a real-to-life feel of drama and a meaning to life beyond capitalism and sitting at home while people die for this country and don't speak up against the Vietnam war (which happens to resemble the most recent 2003 Iraq war best). The DVD might be sending messages out about protesting wars and government actions and how essential it was to this group, and in a way, it makes the viewer feel a slight empowerment to set things right today during our Iraq war, but most of us would probably end up like the group before the Weather Underground (the SDS: students for a democratic society) whom the Undergrounds were a part of, but split because of their blatant inactivity against the gov't when the call came.I loved the film for what it was as a film. I gave the rating for this one a 7 out of 10 stars. There were times when you didn't want to side with the WU. They turned into misguided individuals which can distort their own views to take on any cause of help that the US gave other countries, which cannot be held completely responsible on the US' part. The director had a weird way of showing the transition from their peace-loving group to this more active, bombing group (a typical shot of the ocean on the beach for about a minute or so), but other than that, I got a real education of what they were doing, what the Black Panthers felt about them, and their sense of realism and understanding in the growing world at the crazy time of the late 60's and early 70's. Also included were awesome ambient and funk cuts from the likes of Aphex Twin and Sly and the Family Stone. I loved it, check it out.

Pretty hard to co-op this president. I just saw the film Weather Underground and all I could think of was how the government is now the terrorist and any act even hinting of protest is seen as being against the plan to democratize the whole world. Bush is a master of terror and spares no one in his plight to exert his might! I was in the street when this film was made and it is accurate par excellance. The sadness of course is the loss of such great leaders in prison or killed while they slept like Hampton was! Their efforts were not in vain for it gave a generation (mine) the knowledge to never trust our leaders! I have not been let down for ever since the time of this film every leader has had the same terrorist agenda. Agree or be terminated!

Hard to separate the film from the content here. I thought the mix of various footage and talking heads worked well. (Although one image, used at least twice crossing a street in the 70's left me perplexed...unless it was footage from one of the Weather(wo)men???)The use of sound was deft too, never milking an emotion nor stealing a scene. Speaking of items stolen, oustered SDS leader Todd Gitlin, and his take on the happenings was interesting to me. Others on this review board talk about this being a take on history from the loser's point of view, but then he is the one who lost to those losers.I don't see the Weathermen as losers, but certainly as marginalized folks. Whether by their own in-fighting, by the end of the Vietnam war, by the temptation of time passing, children being born and a general rise in the status of one's status quo. Or perhaps by CointelPro.I'm not sure what is the most amazing aspect of CointelPro, its insidiousness or its effectiveness. I thought the filmmakers went pretty easy on this...but then again, maybe they felt it was a confluence of factors that helped to quell the Weather.Still one can imagine that the levels of CointelPro now are so advanced and complicated, that it would be hard to unravel that from the actual DNA of any "revolutionary" going today. Indeed one can assume that CointelPro junior likely generates its own revolutionaries, and counterrevolutionaries and countercounter to the nth... Like some sort of runaway computer program.Anyways...I do think the film is a worthwhile watch, although chances are you can easily predict your response from just reading some of the reviews posted here. I will always admire the left's largest weakness...that it can doubt itself. If the film doesn't provoke questions in you, it will at least provoke responses (and hopefully not ready-made ones).Some of my questions...1) Is there a difference in violence against corporations versus violence against humans? 2) Does anyone else beside the sons/daughters of the elite have time to think about the "revolution?"3) What exactly was so great about Timothy Leary? And did he get productized into Zoloft? Or whatever is the latest offensive attack missile into the Drug War? Leary didn't have quite the funding that today's corporate cartels have, but it sounds like he sure did have $ome.Well that's just my own ongoing boredom/irritation with legal and illegal drugs. Of these three, the most important is the first.I'm surely no supporter today of the ELF, but one device in the film, of painting action-reponse pictures of the Weatherbombing made violence seem nearly rational. Although nowhere near as methodical as shots of airplanes and their almost pretty dropping of death.I thought Mark Rudd's comment that all violence is perceived as either criminal and/or insane may not be far off the mark. He talked about this as one way that the Weather was blown over rather than up. But as I get older, it does seem that non-violence is the ONLY way.Of course, I have my doubts....6/10