Every time I watch one of these cartoons, I wonder just how dumb can america go. If you really want to know about the chicago 7 (actually 8) I highly recommend the documentary to start with, not this shiny plastic piece of hyperbolic fluff. This is the cartoon version and the timing is not coincidental. I won't argue with the facts in the movie but the whole production reminds me of the tv afternoon special movies that came out in the late 70s and early 80s. For those not old enough to know, before cable, before streaming, before vcrs, before video games, most of us only had a handful of viewing choices, and one of those choices was the 'afternoon special'. The good people at ABC (aka OTA broadcast tv network) came out with afternoon movies designed to pass on a morality message while babysitting us until the folks got off work. These movies were heavy on message; light on very good film making. Maybe this is the voice of the new american propaganda but I can't figure out what the message is here because it's not about vietnam, or anti-war. If you want to do a film about that, then you can't omit the irony of the war is that vietnam economically today is one of the leaders in southeast asia. Heck, they even have an amusement park now outside danang that's framed around a 17th century french village. Google it, if you don't believe me. And it's not about racism because bobby seale only plays a small part of the movie and a stereotype for the 60s at that. The justice system? Geez, there's a reason why most courts, in most states, for most cases, are closed off from the public. Our legal system is far more nutty than portrayed in this movie. If it's supposed to be about the 60s and 70s, it's about as authentic as psychedelic. The closest equivalent I can think of is the way hollywood introduced and portrayed hippies, at that time, in mainstream tv as anyone who wore wide collars, beads, hip boots, bell bottoms in neon colors and said 'cool' and 'groovy' all the time. Or something on par with 'wild in the streets', which unfortunately, some people, even then and now, think as authentic real life. I mean, hollywood then had about as much understanding of the 60s culture as the plods who produced this cartoon. If you want to know more about the anti-war movement, or that period in general there's a lot of good documentaries, some on netflix dvd and youtube with actual stories and interviews with those who were there and involved. Unfortunately, this trial wasn't just about these 8 people but it was a trial of a whole generation and the irony is that the generation of chicago 7 (8) later went on to endorse 3 major wars in the middle east, and the longest war in history, and produced a baby who later went on to make this nonsense.
