Howard Zinn –You Can’t Be Neutral On A Moving Train
(Documentary)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: B- Documentary: B
Howard Zinn is another major thinker on government, war,
economy, politics and decent. Like Noam
Chomsky, Zinn is a professor who has made waves and even become the subject of
U.S. Government surveillance. He has
also written some key books on the subjects noted, and is still giving speeches
to offer well-rounded, fully thought out alternate ways of thinking and knowing
about what is going on beyond rhetoric, mass media and other brainwashing. Howard Zinn - You Can’t Be Neutral On A
Moving Train (2004) is Deb Ellis/Denis Muller’s co-directed look at one of
the brightest minds in free speech and free thought.
He had fought in World War II, then realized how things
were not as clear cut as the Allies vs. The Axis might have been, then how much
worse wars since have been and been possible using The Nazi Analog. He says that inaction is agreeing to the
worst, that fighting for your country and fighting for moneyed profiteering
interests (naming Halliburton as a recent example) are as different as night
and day. His books are quoted
throughout and one of the most impressive things is his amazing ability to
avoid illicit appeal to pit in his arguments, something those who disagree with
wars like the current one often rely on for lack of facts and ideas Zinn
has. Though it only runs 78 minutes
long,
The full frame 1.33 X 1 image was captured on professional
NTSC video, digitized or not, but includes plenty of great film footage. Besides some color clips, there is footage
of the labor movement that goes back to the earliest days of celluloid. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is simple and
clear, with narration by Matt Damon.
Extras include biographies, 5 trailers for other First Run DVDs, an
all-audio speech from 1971 (11:26) in at the Boston Commons before Zinn and the
crowd were beaten and arrested by authorities, an on-camera interview about
aggression and human nature (8:47) and videotaped speech (15:32) of his Boston
Veterans For Peace Convention Speech from July 2004. You also get a DVD-ROM segment a transcript of the Commons
speech, a recommended reading list and biography there. All that makes a fine introduction of the
man for those not in the know.
- Nicholas Sheffo
