Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

aedesjanus The Weather Underground succeeds where no German film dealing with this period has. German political violence shared themes, lifestyles, illusions and ideals with those of the Weathermen. Groups like the Rote Armee Fraktion however crossed over into leading a violent and murderous uprising against the post-war German state and social order. German society would have all the more reason to revisit this period to gain historical insight and hindsight. The recent high profile attempt at this, Baader-Meinhof Complex, is regrettably shallow and embarrassing. Taking a good look at this film would be a step in the right direction.Green and Siegel, despite their obvious sympathy for the material, do not try and finish the narrative of their protagonists. The film allows each of the figures to represent as much of their story as they can relate to. From the intact and defiant self-understanding of Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, to the confusion of Brian Flanagan, or the horrific outcome for former SDS luminary, David Gilbert, whose earliest scheduled release from prison is in 2056. There is no doubt that the Weather Underground failed to relate to the political reality of the period. They were instrumentalized by agent provocateurs from COINTELPRO, fragmented and distorted the SDS, and are part of the global discreditation that political radicalism of the period is subjected to. Their emancipatory narcissism serves as a lesson for the inadequacy of bourgeois subjectivity to actually bridge the gap into some form of normative or justice alterity. Their individual liberation meant exploring the limits of their subjectivity, drugs, violence, sex as a never ending hysteria of self-aggrandization. As much as the unbroken characteristic of some of the figure rings true, there is something out of joint about it. It is as if they never learned that their path produced so much suffering because it was not about the people for whom they held themselves out to represent. This becomes painfully clear in the footage where the Black Panthers, who were reeling under the full force of their leaders being serially murdered by law enforcement agents, rejected the Weathermen's violence and political superficiality.At the same time, we are invited to understand the depth of their motivation and their willingness to sacrifice. Additionally, the film takes pains to take up to an important task. It represents the contradictions of the historical moment that made such subjective distortions inevitable. Green and Siegel succeed in bringing us into the deep tragedy that the Weathermen stand for, a society so failed that self-immolation appeared for some to be the only method of self-recognition. It is the portrayal of a lose-lose situation that marks the impoverishment of the concept of the emancipatory into the present.

MartinHafer Back in the late 1960s and through much of the 70s, a small group of terrorists who labeled themselves the Weather Underground (or, the Weathermen) resorted to very violent tactics in reaction to things such as the Vietnam War and racism. While they didn't kill anyone (other then themselves in one case), they blew up many things and even helped Timothy Leary break out of prison! Now, decades later, this film explores their actions and interviews the surviving participants."The Weather Underground" is an interesting film about about this terrorist group. What's also interesting is that the documentary is amazingly amoral--neither taking a pro or con sort of approach. This isn't bad--and it allows the participants themselves to make that determination--looking back at their movement and actions. Some were rather wistful--and seemed to now believe that they were completely wrong in using violence. Some excellent quotes from the ex-terrorists were the following: "...if you think you have the moral high-ground, that's a dangerous thing..." "...my feelings of guilt and shame...these things I am not proud of..." However, what was even more fascinating was the woman who disagreed, saying "...I would do it again..." This values-free approach, while disconcerting, is also quite revealing--and a bit scary. Well done and very fascinating. Worth a look.

ReelCheese Decent documentary recalls the exploits of the Weathermen, a radical anti-war organization that operated in the United States during the 1960s and '70s. We see how this small group hid bombs in public buildings (though never with the intent of killing), planned for a revolution and eventually went underground to avoid the FBI -- all with the aim of ending the Vietnam war and overthrowing the federal government."The Weather Underground" is as much a retrospect as it is a character study. Lots of people oppose war, but what motivates a tiny faction to take such extreme action? This is a cautionary tale of sorts, warning of the dangers of what happens when one side believes it has "right" on their side. The Weathermen so strongly believed in their cause, and that some magical revolution was on the way to change everything, that they come off as kind of pathetic and sad.Something this doc could have used a bit more of was balance. There are voices in the film that essentially say, "You did what???", but not nearly enough considering just how extreme the Weathermen were. Still, it's an enjoyable effort whether you're old enough to remember this group or not.

salad_days-1 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.