Freedom Riders (Stanley Nelson) ***
The Atlanta Film Festival has really gone all out in previous years to make the Opening and Closing Nights into big events. Last year the fest opened with Howard Zinn film The People Speak and featured a bevy of stars in attendance for the Q&A (Josh Brolin, Eddie Vedder, Jasmine Guy). This year they open with another socially conscious film, Stanley Nelson's documentary about a landmark moment in the civil rights struggle. Once again, they've picked a good (if not great) film to get things started.
The Freedom Riders were a biracial group of civil rights activists who in May 1961 left Washington DC to travel through the south, in defiance of segregationist state and local laws. The first trip to Alabama ended with one bus being destroyed and the group on the other bus being beaten by a mob once they arrived. It seemed like the idea would die, but a group of college students took up the cause and departed on their own Freedom Rides. Brutality and jail time were in store for each group that made the trip, but they kept coming and coming and coming, until the federal government was finally forced to intervene.
It is a pretty straightforward documentary, following the events in a simple ABC fashion, kinda feeling like a good historical doc that you might find on PBS or the History Channel. At times, it feels more like a historical lesson than a film. However, Nelson does a few things that add enough artistry to the film to rise above that description, much like he did in his haunting previous documentary about the Jonestown Massacre.
He utilizes some amazing footage, including a kitschy Greyhound Bus commercial at the time that serves as nice juxtaposition, footage from a Czech news report about the mob riots, and most shockingly footage of the burning bus shot from a home video camera that had been confiscated by the FBI for over 4 decades. Another thing he gets right is his willingness to criticize some of our more revered historical figures. John F. Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy both come off looking really bad here due to their constant unwillingness to commit federal resources to protect the riders. Nelson even documents that there was heavy criticism of Martin Luther King Jr. for his refusal to take part in the rides.
Most importantly, Nelson was able to interview the individuals who took part in this movement. The Freedom Riders discuss the events from their own perspective. One of the more incredible moments of the story is when they talk about signing wills before they got on the bus. They knew it could’ve been one of the last things they ever do. Their dedication to achieving freedom and equality in the face of such danger is inspiring.
Also interesting was the Q&A afterwards which included director Stanley Nelson and many of the original Freedom Riders. They talked about how the strategy for the civil rights movement was largely based on the tactics Gandhi employed in India, something Nelson admits he had cut from the film. They even provided some amusing anecdotes about their time in prison and how they came up with songs to pass the time. It was definitely a good start to the festival.
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