I saw that a lot of people had positive comments about this film. I personally cannot believe anyone took the people on this film seriously unless one is pro-protest because that is the only thing that the people in this film do consistently. I had to watch this movie for class and am currently writing a paper on it. I am currently a student at Cornell University in Ithaca NY which is probably one of the most liberal places in the United States. In class we are often beaten over the heads with professor's liberal political beliefs, so naturally when I began watching this movie I expected more of the same. More of the same was exactly what I did not get. This documentary is surprisingly unbiased, portraying the student population in Berkeley for exactly what it was: A bunch of naive rich kids who had nothing better to do than protest. The people in the film protest for peace then they protest for the Black Panthers, they advocate peaceful protest, then they riot. The Black Panthers interviewed detail how they used the students to organize their rallies, and sold them General Mao's red book so that the could pay for guns. One of the last protests in the film shows when the hippies built a park on land that Berkeley owned, and then claimed ownership of it because they had improved it. When Berkeley bulldozed it they held a violent riot. The film makers, without any editorial comment, are able to show just how misguided these people were. While one might not be willing to sit through two hours of pretentious baby-boomers talking about how justified they were in their protest, it is occasionally funny to see just how stupid these college educated people can be. Watching people who protest for peace back up the black panthers, and then riot is probably one of the most ironic things I have ever seen. If you attend a liberal arts university like I do, you might have heard enough of this drivel, but if not, this film is most certainly for you.
Review of Berkeley in the Sixties
