Microcinema DVDs - Investigation of a Flame by Lynne Sachs

On May 17, 1968, three priests, a nurse, an artist and four others walked into a Catonsville, Maryland draft board office, grabbed hundreds of selective service records and burned them with homemade napalm. INVESTIGATION OF A FLAME is an intimate look at this unlikely band—dubbed the Catonsville Nine—who broke the law in a poetic act of civil disobedience. The publicity and news coverage from their ensuing trial helped galvanize an American public that was becoming increasingly disillusioned with the Vietnam War.

INVESTIGATION OF A FLAME explores this Sixties protest within the context of these extremely different times; times in which foes of Middle East peace, abortion, and technology resort to violence to access the public imagination. Filmmaker Lynne Sachs has combined volatile, long-unseen, archival footage with a series of informal interviews with Daniel and Philip Berrigan, Howard Zinn, John Hogan, Tom Lewis, and Marjorie and Tom Melville. The meditative result encourages viewers to ponder the contemporary relevance of civil disobedience and the implications of personal sacrifice for the greater good.
Further Information:

All royalties from sales of this DVD go to the Viva House Soup Kitchen in Baltimore, Maryland, founded by the Catonsville Nine Support Group in 1968.

“A complex rumination on the power of protest.” — LA WEEKLY

“Gorgeously crafted! A film to rave about, as well as reckon with.” —THE INDEPENDENT

”INTRIGUING, SO INSPIRING!” — Filmmaker GUY MADDIN (The Most Beautiful Music in the World)

BONUS FEATURE
The Sundance Channel’s AfterEffect (5 minutes)
Short film about the Catonsville Nine featuring interviews with Daniel Berrigan
and Lynne Sachs and additional archival footage. (© 2003 Sundance Channel L.L.C.)

2007-06-22 LA Weekly
By

A complex rumination on the power of protest.

2007-06-22 The Independent
By

Gorgeously crafted! A film to rave about, as well as reckon with.

2007-06-22 The Baltimore Sun
By

To those who think that everything in a society and its culture must move in lock step at times of crisis, [the film] might seem to be off-message. But it is in essence patriotic... saluting U.S. democracy as it pays homage to the U.S. tradition of dissent.

2006-11-15 http://blogcritics.org
By Ray Ellis

That we live in violent times is hardly a revelation. The sociopolitical history of Earth is largely a history of violence. The Powers That Be have, since time immemorial, embraced war as a viable solution to differences of opinion.

That's an oversimplification, of course, but in our current climate of global unrest, we've lost the focus of dissent. Civil disobedience has always been a large thread in the fabric of the American experience, and is largely responsible for the ever-evolving way we view ourselves. The current cultural context, however, has largely eliminated civility from disobedience. Increasingly, regardless of the issue, we turn to violence to make our point. To quote Walt Kelly, "We have seen the enemy, and he is us."

Investigation of a Flame, by documentary filmmaker Lynne Sachs, is a relatively straightforward retrospective about a benign Vietnam War protest by a group of Catholic activists who would become known as the Catonsville Nine. Now almost a footnote in the history of Vietnam-era protest, what happened on 17 May 1968 in the Baltimore suburb of Catonsville remains a poignant reminder of the ultimate power of quiet civil disobedience. Nine people, including two priests and two women, went into a Selective Service office, grabbed several hundred draft files, took them outside, and ceremoniously burned them with homemade napalm.

It seems almost a puerile prank by today's standards of violent opposition to any given social or political agenda. But it was enough to earn all the participants federal prison terms. More importantly, the action served as a springboard inspiration to much of the anti-war protest to follow.

Investigation of a Flame doesn't romanticize or glamorize the action of the Nine — indeed, it painstakingly puts the opposition's viewpoint into the historical context of the event. There are interviews with women who worked in the Selective Service office, who cared less about the politics of the war, but were fully committed to supporting the troops. The prosecutor is interviewed as well, and makes several valid points about social conscience not outweighing the order of law. On the other side of the coin, the interviews with Daniel and Philip Berrigan, and the others involved in the incident, offer compelling evidence that moral conscience can outweigh the dictates of civil law.

By skillfully intercutting news footage of the time with contemporary interview segments, Sachs has succeeded in presenting a snapshot of sixties history that amply illustrates the dangers of not remembering the mistakes of history. Snippets of news footage from the era ring eerily reminiscent of contemporary political posturing. Lyndon Johnson saying "We will not hand Asia over to the communists" was a "stay the course" policy that proved to be fallacious. Asia has survived, and America is still nursing self-inflicted wounds.

The power of this film lies in its sense of irony and history. None of the Catonsville Nine were longhaired radicals. At the time, they were middle-aged, respected members of society acting on principles and moral indignation. The surviving members of the group make few apologies for their protest. In their seventies and eighties now, they remain unbowed. However displaced their passions may have been in 1968, the drive of their convictions should imbue a sense of patriotism in all Americans.

By holding the mirror of the past up to us, Lynne Sachs and her film shows us that despite all adversities, the American Spirit ultimately prevails. The current policy in Iraq is a losing proposition, but this too we will survive.

In the span of forty five minutes, Investigation of a Flame forces us to remember that civil disobedience is a cornerstone of American history. It should also serve as a reminder that in the heart of patriotism is the eternal question of "why?" When we quit questioning the government's motivations, we risk losing all we hold dear.

In one of his final statements before his death in 2002, one of the protesters, Father Philip Berrigan, said:

The American people are, more and more, making their voices heard against Bush and his warrior clones. Bush and his minions slip out of control, determined to go to war, determined to go it alone, determined to endanger the Palestinians further, determined to control Iraqi oil, determined to ravage further a suffering people and their shattered society. The American people can stop Bush, can yank his feet closer to the fire, can banish the war makers from Washington D.C., can turn this society around and restore it to faith and sanity.

I include that quote only to illustrate the courage of the man's convictions. It's up to you to debate its validity. At its core, Investigation of a Flame operates on that same level. As a historical anecdote, its worth is unquestionable. As to the issues it forces us to examine, it's priceless.