Berkeley in the Sixties

I really enjoyed watching this film... mostly for educational reasons. Being born in 1972, I was not around for the activism of the 60's. Much like most people of my generation, we've heard stories about the 60's, listened to music of the times, etc. However, this film really made me see the various activism of the 60's in a different light. I have a new respect for what students at Berkeley and others were trying to accomplish. You can't help but feel admiration for many of the people interviewed and shown in this film. The film made me contemplate about a lot of issues, as well as puts a new and refreshing perspective on people. It covers plenty of topics without rushing the viewer through them. It's great to explore this small piece of history and see how it effects life today in the 21st century... makes you think about how far or how little we've come since then. As a footnote...The film contains some really interesting footage of Ronald Reagan when he was Governor of California.

'I was there as a student - this film is a '10' in explaining the era and what was going on in the Berkeley arena during this time frame. I teach at CAL now, and have used it as a 'primer' to show the way things should be. As a social (2xPh.D.) scientist (and as a Canadian) it seems Americans have lost the drive and initiative to make a change. In many ways the nameless people in this film are heroes, standing up for what they believe should be at any cost. Many who see this film have no idea what the students who were part of this movement went through, it was far from a 'walk in the park' - their sacrifices of family, friends and the indignities they suffered cannot be explained. These are your lost heroes America, learn from them and rise to the occasion again before it is too late.'

Where have all the activists gone, long time passing? That's what I asked myself as I watched this great documentary. We now live in an age where signs and protests in the streets are just another story on the news. We have seen it so much we have become jaded by it all. This documentary takes us back to a time in America when revolution in the streets seemed entirely possible, and it scared the heck out of middle America, politicians and those who had a vested interest in the status quo. It interviews people who were there from the beginning in the very early 1960s through the early 1970s and the stopping of the Vietnam war. Is this film anti-establishment? You bet, it would have to be. We are, after all, showing the viewpoint of people involved in the counter-culture after all. No Rush Limbaugh here. What this movie left me with was a gratefulness that someone recorded these activists stories on film. These people were primarily writers, there still exists a LOT of writing from the time that goes into more detail on what was going on, but by recording these stories on film, it assures that future generations who will not seek out a book as readily as they will a TV remote will hear them. This movie also left me with a feeling of wondering where today's activists were. Where are the people willing to give up freedom and comfort to stand for what they believe in. Oh yeah, they are looking for their remotes...

Berkeley in the Sixties is an historical documentary that alternates between 1980s oral history and actual period photo-journalism.

So it is composed largely of apparently network-sponsored news footage of the street politics and culture wars of the time. Reflecting an irony of the period, most of this footage of revolution was presumably shot and edited by the action-seeking network video journalists (employed by 1960s Fortune 500 corporations) who recorded the street politics and culture wars of the time.

One reviewer imagines "hypothetical" conservative viewers "talking back to the screen". But the only controversy of this film comes from giving any voice at all to the memories of today's teachers, social workers and businessfolk who (after all) mostly IN THEIR YOUTH had been involved with organizing and direct action in Berkeley. And this social history and oral history ("Heavens!") may be what one conservative reviewer calls "bias". The personal memories of these movements' various opponents (often unavailable anyway by 1990) are mostly not recorded. (Rather only their statements at the time are represented.)

History, like life, necessitates a particular perspective and position. And this one is admittedly not Ronald Reagan's or Ed Meese's or J. Edgar Hoover's history. But the film could by no stretch be called either Leftist or nostalgic or romanticized history of the 60s in the U.S. or abroad.

In the oral history testimonies, the "lessons" attested to are pretty darned mixed. Hardly sentimental, approximately two former activists' testimonials emphasize the MISTAKES and excesses of the period for every one that recalls a success or virtuous result, by my count. In other words, if this is propaganda, it is clearly NOT Leftist propaganda. Neither is this a Sunday a.m. tv pundit debate among major party-allied think tank representatives. The film is an attempt to probe the experience of folks who, like the rest of us, shaped human history both deliberately and inadvertently.

Moreover this is as much another worthwhile film about boomers recalling their hyper-televised, activist youth as it is an attempt at serious history. and yet in the end Berkeley in the 60s does an excellent job of both tasks. It is among the most . thought-provoking films I have seen. --Todd from Brooklyn

This film provides an interesting look at the major issues of the 60s on one of the most liberal campuses in the country. Similar to the War at Home (based on the anti- war protests in Madison), the film interviews leaders of the different political movements to get their perspective of what was happening at the time. Good variety of people, if not ideologies. Especially enjoyed the ending that was a "where are they now" update. Glad to see that a number of them didn't stick their beliefs in their back pocket and become part of the "Hippie Beemer" set after they finished college.