Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther

This worthwhile documentary is a platform for the Black Panther leader Cleaver. The camera focuses on him as he discusses the theories and goals of the Panthers, meets with African leaders, and laments the captivity in Babylon (the United States). But more interesting than the repetitive political discourse are the frequent insight into the private person. Cleaver comes off as an intelligent, dedicated man with an ingratiating sense of irony about himself as well as the world. While his views may be controversial to some, his situation circa 1970 and his predicament as a revolutionary figure of the times is interesting and sympathetic.

cleaver in algiers is some of the best footage you will find on the pan African revolutionary struggle, and the cultural reasons for the difficulties that blacks in the US have had finding their place in it (yes, they are not in Africa, duh!). that alone is worth watching this. it's a document of the times, and of the organization the panthers, with no experience and little more than theoretical models, were able to structure against a system of oppression that wanted all people of color across the globe in chains, or dead, since the day they were born "non-white." there is no valid argument against the panthers' program.