Reviews of Rebels with a Cause

"The only way to rescue the past from what the English historian E.P. Thompson has called 'the enormous condescension of history' is to give those who lived it a chance to explain themselves. This Ms. Garvy has done, and she helped advance our understanding of a difficult and exhilarating time."
        (The New York Times)
   For the complete review click here

“INDISPENSABLE RECORD ... ELOQUENT ORAL HISTORY ... UNPRECEDENTED ACCESS”
        (Variety)

“This film captures the way it was then, from the tentative beginnings, through the incisive analyses & impassioned organizing, right through the marches and the demonstrations and the confrontations, and on to the agonizing and explosive conclusion.  Remarkably, it’s here — the passion, naiveté, courage, intelligence, commitment, frustration, wisdom, burnout, self-importance, love, factionalism, heartbreak, and accomplishment — it’s all here.  With a cause, indeed!”
        (Kirkpatrick Sale, historian and author of SDS)

“Rarely has what is basically a talking heads documentary worked so well.  That is largely because so many of the participants — they include local product Bernardine Dohrn and Chicago Seven member Tom Hayden — are educated, insightful, and articulate.  Whether you see it as a well-structured refresher course or an eye-opening historical survey, Rebels with a Cause does a terrific job.” (NNN1/2)
        (Chicago Tribune)

"Rebels with a Cause couldn't have arrived at a better time. With the political process doing everything but sparking idealism lately, this documentary about the young people who spearheaded Students for a Democratic Society in the early '60s, and sought to hold the government up to the same moral standards we expect of each other, is inspiring.... the way politics brought journeys of self- discovery to these SDS members makes Rebels fascinating. (NNN)
         (Boston Herald)

 “...an excellent window on the struggles of young people who shaped the legacy of their generation.”
        (Marshall Ganz, Lecturer in Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government,
         Harvard University)

“Rebels with a Cause is absolutely indispensable for anyone who wants to understand political and cultural change in the 1960s.  It vividly explains why educated young people decided to devote their lives to transforming the nation and the world.” 
        (Michael Kazin, Professor of History, Georgetown University and author of
        America Divided:  The Civil Wars of the 1960s)

“The film’s extensive interviews with activists provide rich and original insights into the student movement.  These interviews are interspersed with film footage to provide a lively and highly evocative portrait of the period for today’s generation.” 
        (Lisa McGirr, Assistant Professor of History, Harvard University)

“It is especially valuable as an antidote to the cynical interpretations that dismiss the 1960s activists as either misguided idealists or hedonists consumed with sex, drugs and rock and roll.  But beyond establishing an accurate record, the film’s contribution is its transmission of historical memory to later generations.  It is an especially valuable resource for current activists who wish to link their struggles to those of the recent past.”
        (Jim Russell, The Nation)

“The best cinematic portrayal of the origins of the women’s liberation movement.  If you want to understand the sixties, this is the film to see.”
        (Ruth Rosen, Professor of History, UC Davis and author of The World Split
        Open:  How the Modern Women’s Movement Changed America:)

“It would be hard to imagine a better way of introducing today’s students to the values, commitments, passions, and hopes of their peers in the 1960s than Rebels with a Cause.”
        (Paul Lauter, Professor of Literature, Trinity College)

“The film is wonderful.  It really captures the spirit of the period, the kind of zeitgeist in which we all participated.  The people are so articulate and the comments are interwoven so it almost seems like people finishing each other’s sentences.  And of course that is a lot of what the 60s in SDS were like.  We were very diverse folks who found ourselves on the same wave length.” 
        (Mike Rotkin, Lecturer in Community Studies, UC Santa Cruz, and former mayor
        of Santa Cruz, CA)            

Return to Rebels with a Cause Home Page