''1971'' is a 2014 American
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
and the
directorial debut
This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...
of producer
Johanna Hamilton
Johanna is a feminine name, a variant form of Joanna that originated in Latin in the Middle Ages, including an -h- by analogy with the Latin masculine name Johannes. The original Greek form ''Iōanna'' lacks a medial /h/ because in Greek Spiritus ...
, who also co-wrote the film. The film had its world premiere on 18 April 2014 at the
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...
and focuses on the break-in of an FBI office in
Media, Pennsylvania
Media is a borough in and the county seat of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It is located about west of Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation with 1.6 million residents as 2020. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolita ...
on Monday, March 8, 1971, to steal over 1000 classified documents. It was pitched at the
Sheffield Doc/Fest
Sheffield DocFest (formerly styled Sheffield Doc/Fest), short for Sheffield International Documentary Festival (SIDF), is an international documentary festival and Marketplace held annually in Sheffield, England.
The Festival includes film sc ...
2011 MeetMarket preceding its debut. The break-in took place on the night of the first
Ali
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
-
Frazier
Frazier is a Scottish surname. Notable people with the surname include:
__NOTOC__ A
* Adam Frazier (born 1991), American baseball player
B
*Brenda Frazier (1921-1982), American “celebutante” socialite during the Depression era C
*Calvin ...
boxing title fight dubbed the ''
Fight of the Century
Joe Frazier vs. Muhammad Ali, billed as ''The Fight Of The Century'' or simply ''The Fight'', was a heavyweight championship boxing match between WBA, WBC, and ''The Ring'' heavyweight champion Joe Frazier and former undisputed heavyweight champ ...
''.
Hamilton was inspired to create the film after learning that
Betty Medsger
Betty Medsger is an author and investigative reporter. Medsger is the author of several books, including ''The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover's Secret FBI''. Medsger was instrumental in uncovering the work of COINTELPRO and secret acti ...
was working on her book ''The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI'', which discussed the 1971 events and revealed the identities of many of the participants, who had remained anonymous up to that point.
Synopsis
The film focuses on the events of March 8, 1971, when eight people orchestrated the burglary and public distribution of government files from an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania. The theft was altogether different than the numerous contemporary
draft board
{{further, Conscription in the United StatesDraft boards are a part of the Selective Service System which register and select men of military age in the event of conscription in the United States.
Local board
The local draft board is a board th ...
office break-ins, in which activists (including many of the burglars) burned government draft paperwork to interfere with America's continued participation in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. The group, all of whom were ordinary citizens, called themselves the
Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI
The Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI was an activist group operational in the US during the early 1970s. Their only known action was breaking into a two-man Media, Pennsylvania, office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and s ...
and stole every file in the office. The goal of the burglars was to gather tangible evidence of government surveillance of civilian political activists, which was infringing on
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
rights. The stolen files exposed that the FBI was indeed running extensive, illegal operations intended to spread paranoia and distrust among numerous
New Left
The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...
and black civil rights organizations. (Other files included training manuals, information about
organized crime
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
, and information about
draft resistance
Draft evasion is any successful attempt to elude a government-imposed obligation to serve in the military forces of one's nation. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws of one's nation. Illegal draft ev ...
.) Over time, the group mailed copies of the files to various newsrooms. Most news organizations returned the files to the FBI and refused to run stories regarding the stolen documents, but the notable exception was ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', which ran a front-page story on March 24, 1971, about the files which were mailed to journalist Betty Medsger. Arguably the most significant element in the stolen materials turned out to be a single file mentioning "
COINTELPRO
COINTELPRO ( syllabic abbreviation derived from Counter Intelligence Program; 1956–1971) was a series of covert and illegal projects actively conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveilling, infiltrati ...
", a secret surveillance program that was run by
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation ...
. Subsequent investigations and
freedom of information
Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, indigeno ...
requests regarding COINTELPRO played a role in the 1975
Church Committee
The Church Committee (formally the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities) was a US Senate select committee in 1975 that investigated abuses by the Central Intelligence ...
.
Reception
Critical reception for ''1971'' has been positive.
''
Washingtonian'' and ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' both praised the work, which the ''Washingtonian'' described as "a compelling documentary that provides a powerful perspective on the current debate about the men and women who risk everything to disclose government secrets." ''
Indiewire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
'' also gave a favorable review, praising Hamilton's directing and stated "Her film is not celebratory, lingering on the notion that, with the public charade of COINTELPRO, ultimately the FBI won. While their post-break-in behaviors are mocked, the government credits itself with tactics specifically utilized to "enhance the paranoia," creating a culture of fear that still exists today."
See also
*
List of films featuring surveillance
There is a significant body of films that feature surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observa ...
References
External links
*
* {{IMDb title, 3478510
2014 films
2014 documentary films
Films set in 1971
American documentary films
Documentary films about United States history
Federal Bureau of Investigation
1971 in American politics
2010s English-language films
2010s American films