Sacco & Vanzetti (2006 Documentary)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Documentary: B
Though
the story was made into a feature film in 1971, I never thought the story of
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti was told properly or thoroughly. That film was often wooden and when the film
ended, the period piece and any impact were oddly thrown off by a sudden end
theme by Joan Baez. It is one of the most
notorious, shocking and sad miscarriages of justice in the history of the U.S.
legal system and is the kind of history that keeps repeating itself since there
are more than as few people who want to bury this key piece of history.
Peter
Miller’s new documentary on Sacco &
Vanzetti (2006) is very thorough to the point of even using a few clips
from the 1971 film, but it is a very strong 82 minutes with interviews,
thorough case examination and proof that it was very much an establishment,
media and government witch hunt of two men over their political views, their
ethnicity and the fact that they were of a lower socio-economic class. Especially at the time in the 1920s, getting
justice was even tougher. Accused of
murder in 1920, despite the best efforts of some good people, they were
executed in 1927 releasing a wave of the political Left and changing the
country forever.
John
Turturro (Vanzetti) and Tony Shalhoub (Sacco) supply their voiceover voices and
everyone from Arlo Guthrie to Howard Zinn are interviewed. This is another must-see documentary from a
great cycle of recent politically and socially conscious releases. On the 80th anniversary of their
execution, the ugliness of the case echoes disturbing as to what is happening
today and especially those who know nothing about the case should mark this
down as a must-have.
The
anamorphically enhance 1.78 X 1 image was shot in digital High Definition, but also
has all kinds of film and video footage from literally over eight decades. Nicely edited together, the impact is always
strong without being manipulative. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is simple and sometimes goes to mono, but is pretty
good. Extras include a stills section,
text filmmaker biographies, trailers for five other political First Run
programs, suggested readings, Q&A text on the men and interview with the
director.
- Nicholas Sheffo
