Review by dougdoepke

One thing this visually messy, uncensored docu captures is the spirit of domestic revolt from the early 1950's to the anti-Vietnam uprisings of the '60s. That early part with biker counter-culture (Aliens) is really more reflective of the '50s when some urban free-wheelers found motorcycles more fulfilling than the cultural conformity of the post-WWII years. (Check out Brando's The Wild One, 1952, for an early foreshadowing.) Then, after much visual cascading as the scenes flash by, the movie's setting moves into the more explicit anti-war movements of the '60s. At some murky point, the movie messaging slowly becomes more coherent amidst the general visual chaos, finally culminating in a rather eloquent read-over of an antiwar letter apparently penned by a young adult of the time. All in all, given what's gone before, it's an unexpectedly coherent summation of the radical 60's period.

Note the generally optimistic expectations of the 60's antiwar rebels that the flick conveys. It's as though their dissidence amounts to an irresistable wave of the future. Trouble is the docu was assembled in '69 at the rebellion's peak. But once the war in Vietnam ended in the mid-70's the fire burned out leaving the docu as a messy if mood-capturing record of the time. So, if you can manage the cascading visuals catch up with this genuine oddity.