Review: Although a few recent political scandals in Chicago have caught the nation’s attention as prime examples of what the city is really like, few stories of Windy City are as amazing as what happened at, around, and after the 1968 Democratic National Convention.  The filmmakers behind Chicago 10 took on a monumental task of presenting the very vibrant, multidimensional topic and they succeeded in showing the story in as wild of a fashion as possible. The filmmakers make great use of the substantially large amount of news footage and archived film that chronicled the events as they happened, and it is to the viewer’s benefit that the images and interviews works so well. At first glance, the prospect of making a documentary that follows the trial of those charged with inciting the famous riot is a tedious one, as cameras were not allowed in Cook County courtrooms when the trial took place (nor are they allowed even in 2009).  This problem’s solution becomes one of the film’s most notable features, as the documentary goes through both real scenes of the riots and the aftermath, and presents animated “staged readings” of courtroom scenes based on the trial’s official transcript. Overall, Chicago 10 is a fine example of innovative documentary filmmaking.  The film’s nicely paced plot switches not just between real footage and cartoon, but also jumps in time between the trial and the protest gatherings surrounding the convention. Many scenes are also accompanied by a rich soundtrack, whose songs mesh well with the film, and help put the tensions between the demonstrators and police officers into a more clearly understandable language for any viewers watching the documentary with little or no prior knowledge of the events. My only complaint with the film came from the few times when the cartoon scenes didn’t work well and appeared to help push an agenda. I am a stickler for authenticity, and while most of the actors’ performances walk along a fine line of entertaining imitation without sidestepping too extremely into artistic interpretation, the cartoon version of Judge Hoffman comes across almost as a caricature of a doddering and stubborn elderly movie villain.  The film also uselessly presents a cartoon scene of a violent confrontation between demonstrators and police officers even though the real footage of the riots that gets shown is much more effective. Unlike the goal of the trial, though, in which prosecutors hoped to nail a small number of people in a large nonviolent movement as “bad apples” and make the judgment resonate, the documentary’s few errors don’t come close to overshadowing the entertaining film and its inventive way of cinematically interpreting a moment in the nation’s (and Chicago’s) history. Review by Ryan Pollyea Informative: 3.5- Mostly great but the narrative strays away from 100% genuine a few times Entertainment: 4- Almost everything about the trial is unbelievably interesting and it’s hard to lose interest during the smoothly paced protest scenes Technical: 4- The story keeps moving through the leaps between cartoon and archive footage which are blended superbly Overall: 4- The film makes a few choices that miss but as a whole it's a very entertaining film covering a fascinating and bizarre subject
 
Format: DVD Year: 2007 Running Time: 110 minutes Distributor: Roadside Attractions Producer: Graydon Carter and Brett Morgen Director: Brett Morgen Date Reviewed: 6/30/09 Summary: “Blending archival footage with modern animation, this documentary examines the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention, which was beset by massive protests. It focuses on the courtroom trial of several activists and participants, such as Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, who were charged with inciting a riot.” (Netflix)