MovieChat Forums > William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe Discussion > a-mazingly objective, considering ...

a-mazingly objective, considering ...

posted 14 years ago by DogtownGirl
3 replies | jump to latest

... his two daughters made the film. I felt as though they made the film as a means of trying to understand and make sense of what their father did and why, rather than to try and paint some Saintly portrait of the fellow.

The film did not skimp on providing us with less than lovely details about what their father was, and who he chose to represent. I thought its approach was direct and rather non-judgemental, actually.

My house was fairly packed, by the way. I saw the second matinee of the film, on Saturday, yesterday.

I am sucker for Docs, over any other type of film, save for maybe concert movies ("Michael Jackson, This is It" was EXCELLENT and I am not even a fan of his)

[–] zwot 14 years ago

I noticed in one of the other threads that you were worried (prior to viewing the film) that the daughters might've produced a hagiography of their father. It's funny you should say that because as I watched the film last night I found myself wondering if their oft-stated disillusionment with their father's choices early in the film wasn't a disingenuous attempt to forestall exactly that sort of speculation when the tone of the film changed to become decidedly flattering towards Kunstler's legacy.

In the end, I decided not to be so cynical and I came away with respect for the thoughtful and earnest portrayal that Kunstler's daughters provide in this film. The calm but poignant courtroom speech Kunstler delivers at the end of the film, on its own, earns him a lot of goodwill in my books. And I really liked the artful way the film employs the metaphor of Michaelangelo's David. The final animation sequence, where the anthropomorphic shadow cast by the mass of citizenry stands in opposition to the shadow cast by Goliath, is sublime. This is one of the best documentaries I've seen in a long time.

[–] DogtownGirl 14 years ago

zwot,

My feelings echo those of yours expressed in the second Paragraph of your post.

Try not to gossip about who / what you don't know. Words are just cruelly speculative.

[–] canadamelody 14 years ago

I could have done without the David metaphor I thought it was ill-advised. The rest of it I think is brilliant.