Review of the new film Beyond Bars.
a critique of the newest movie,” Beyond Bars.” a critique of the newest movie,” Beyond Bars.”
Review of the new film Beyond Bars.
The new documentary “Beyond Bars” by activist filmmaker Robert Greenwald focuses on Chesa Boudin, the progressive district attorney of San Francisco who was removed from office in 2022 through a recall effort after serving for approximately eighteen months. Greenwald delves into a variety of important topics such as mass incarceration, racism, political campaigning, big money in elections, childhood, and parenting by exploring Chesa’s complex backstory. The perceptive viewer will notice that Greenwald, who directed the Hollywood biopic Steal This Movie in 2000 about Yippie Abbie Hoffman, has now also directed a poignant tribute to the radical New Left movement. Chesa Boudin is often considered the descendant of America’s prominent left-wing family. His grandfather, Leonard Boudin, was a well-known defense attorney who represented a wide range of clients, such as Paul Robeson, Daniel Ellsberg, Dr. Benjamin Spock, William Sloane Coffin, and Philip Berrigan. Chesa’s parents, Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, were part of the radical Weather Underground group and were sentenced to prison for their involvement in the Brinks heist that resulted in the deaths of two police officers and a security guard in 1981 near Manhattan. Chesa was raised by Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, close associates of his incarcerated parents, who were branded as domestic terrorists by Sarah Palin in 2002 for their relationship with Barack Obama. Chesa’s parents entrusted their young child to a babysitter while they took part in the Brinks robbery to gather money for the Black Liberation Army, as Gilbert humorously mentions on screen, those who support armed resistance often do not receive grants from organizations like the Rockefeller Foundation.
