"Chicago 10" Recreates Fabled "Cartoon Show"

In the New York Times, John Anderson looks at "Chicago 10," which will open the Sundance Film Festival in January, a documentary about the trial of the group of anti-war protesters at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Directed by Brett Morgen ("On the Ropes," "The Kid Stays in the Picture"), the film will take a novel approach to recreating history: it is animating portions of the trial with the use of voice actors as Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden, et. al. Morgen says that he wanted the film to be "playful, not overtly academic" and that "I thought that animation would have served as commentary on the trial; Jerry Rubin called it a 'cartoon show,' and when I read the quote, the bells went off." The film is being financed by River Road Entertainment and Participant Productions and is meant to have resonance in the era of Iraq and the war on terror. Defense attorney Leonard Weinglass is one of the few figures of the era to voice his own lines, but by and large Morgen depended on actors to recreate the characters of the time. The pic has no distribution yet.