In 1975, director Emile de Antonio filmed some of the most wanted women and men in America - fugitive members of the militant leftist group known as the Weather Underground. Shooting in secret and utilizing creative methods to obscure their identities, his documentary “Underground” had consequences no one could have predicted. In this episode of The Document, avante-truth filmmaker Travis Wilkerson ("Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?") tells the story of how de Antonio found the Weather Underground, how he filmed them and how the movie about them helped destroy their organization.
Film still from "Underground." The film was shot with faces of members of the Weather Underground
obscured in different ways, so as to not tip off the FBI.
Film still from "Underground" with faces of members of the Weather Underground obscured.
Film still from "Underground" shot through a mirror, with editor Mary Lampson, cinematographer Haskell Wexler
and director Emile de Antonio, with the backs of members of the Weather Underground in the foreground.
More info:
- Stream two of Travis Wilkerson's incredible films on the freshly launched ovid.tv:
"Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?", "An Injury to One" - Emile de Antonio’s obit in The New York Times.
Documentary clips in today’s intro:
- McQueen (2018): A posthumous portrait of the life and work of the legendary sensation-maker and fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen. (Amazon, Google Play, iTunes)
- Dina (2017): Dina Buno’s real-life love story is like nothing we’ve seen before on the big screen. (iTunes, Kanopy, YouTube)
- The Queen of Versailles (2012): Lauren Greenfield’s chronicle of the rise and fall of one family’s version of the American Dream - on steroids. (Amazon, Google Play, Kanopy)