Pssst, want to check out American Anarchist in our new look?
Information
- Year
- 2016
- Runtime
- 80 min.
- Director
- Charlie Siskel
- Genre
- Documentary
- Rating *
- 5.8
- Votes *
- 981
- Checks
- 88
- Favs
- 1
- Dislikes
- 5
- Favs/checks
- 1.1% (1:88)
- Favs/dislikes
- 1:5
Top comments
-
Shazaaaam
This film was very interesting for the first half hour or so, as we see Powell wrestling with his responsibility for the book's legacy. But the director's badgering of Powell becomes increasingly extreme and doesn't allow for a more thoughtful reckoning.
Personally, I don't have a lot of sympathy for young Powell's dumb ideas about revolution, and it's horrifying that the Columbine murderers or the Oklahoma City bomber referred to Powell's book. But is there any doubt that these attackers would have found this information, or something much like it, elsewhere--especially when the list of attacks goes into the Internet age? Why keep badgering Powell about his responsibility after he's already expressed remorse? Does Siskel honestly believe that if Powell had spoken out against the book more forcefully (as he repeatedly challenges Powell to do), the murderers he names--everyone from mob hit men to school shooters to Croatian terrorists--would have reconsidered their ways? I wish someone had been present to challenge Siskel's dumb ideas the same way he challenges some of Powell's early evasions. 6 years 10 months ago