Bill Siegel

Weather Underground Bill Siegel

This intensely captivating documentary from directors Bill Siegel and Sam Green focuses on the radical political activist group the Weathermen, who organized in the 1960s to protest the Vietnam War. With roots in a group called Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the Weathermen represented a small faction of political-minded protesters who believed that, in order to avoid being marginalized and ignored by the US government, they would need to take violent action. Speaking out with clear goals to intentionally inflict violence, their slogan was "Bring the War Home," indicating that they would mimic on U. S. turf the violence that U. S. troops were ordered to carry out in Vietnam. They organized bombings--sometimes botching their plans horribly and causing unintended casualties--that put them on the Most Wanted list of the FBI. In turn, they split up and went underground, trying to avoid prosecution while continuing to plan violent protests. While THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND takes a fascinating look at the wildly daring tactics and philosophies that this group used to try to make a change; it also comments on the group's failures and its irresponsible methods. Some of the most revelatory moments of the film come from other political activist groups, such as the Black Panthers, reflecting back on the actions of the Weathermen, and, in hindsight, looking at the group's practices with new perspective.