Sacco and Vanzetti

ofthe family was to take up the life ofthe equally parasitical country gentry and to live out their lives in some idyllic refuge with ample funds and servants. Ultimately, my problem with the film is just this sort ofbalance-the feeling that as a viewer I am being manipulated so that with the aid ofall the contrivances ofmodern cinematography and psychology: from blood-stained infants' things; to the compromised Anastasia pleading for a chance to experience "life;" to close-ups ofa bullet's entry into the Tsar's hand protecting his son's head; the triflingly tragic looms over atrocities of untold magnitude, and the fate (admittedly grizzly) of one stupid man, his bigoted wife, and five pampered children is made to overshadow the sufferings and deaths ofmillions that they caused. The thought crosses my mind, perhaps improperly that one day we might be treated to an equally splendid and poignant account ofthe travail of Rudolph Hoess—after all, although he was commandant ofAuschwitz, he too was kind to his family and dogs. I said at the beginning that the film left me feeling, not negative, but ambivalent. My criticisms need to be tempered somewhat by the fact that there is at least someone on hand at crucial moments to bring us out ofthe Romanov's ivory tower and back to reality: Witte on "Bloody Sunday" and in July of 1914; Sazinov and Rasputin in their 1916 confrontation; Kerensky in 1917; and the commissar from the central committee in 1918. They at least point "to the roads Nocholas could have taken" and to the results of those that he did. Given the actual conditions of Russia under Nicholas and the "knee Jerk" reaction that most of us still have toward the regime that replaced it, a much more balanced and sensitive overall view is needed. Still, I feel that this film does contain much ofvalue to the teacher ofhistory, but that he/she should be prepared for a minute dissection afterwards so that "Nicky," "Sunny," and their tragedy can be put back into their proper perspective. So forewarned, the film would make "one hell of a lead-in" to a discussion of the Russian Revolution. Gerald Herman teaches European History (1870-1921) on both the graduate and undergraduate levels at Northeastern University. He is currently producing multi-media lectures on the First World War and the Russian Revolution. Sacco and Vanzetti By Robert Horowitz The most difficult task an artist faces when dealing with the dramatization of a controversial episode in history is to avoid letting it become polemical. Unfortunately, the Italian-made film Sacco and Vanzetti falls right into this pitfall and thus ruins what could have been an honest, objective portrayal ofa tragic event. Countless books and articles have been written about the case, and none firmly establish the guilt of Sacco and Vanzetti. On the other hand, neither can the defenders ofthe two Italian immigrants prove their innocence beyond a shadow ofa doubt. This new film tries to prove their innocence, but director Ginliano Montaldo goes about it in such a heavy-handed way that the essential truths of the case almost get lost. 22 The beginning ofthe picture is quite interesting. Filmed in grainy black and white, (it soon switches over to color) as a quasi documentary, the opening segments are concerned with the extralegal methods of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer as he tried to deal with foreign bom radicals. The mood ofhysteria and fear which was sweeping across America during the 1919-1920 Red Scare is accurately recreated. But Montaldo leaves it at that. He never tries to answer two important questions: why did these incidents take place and what was there about America that allowed this climate of fear to spread? Montaldo wanted to create in his audience a feeling ofdeep sympathy for Sacco and Vanzetti. He attempted this not by letting the essential facts - the prejudice ofJudge Thayer, the manipulations ofDistrict Attorney Katzmann, the weakness ofthe evidence speak for themselves, but by resorting to the worst sort ofmelodrama. The trial scenes come across as poor burlesque, with MiIo O'Shea as defense attorney Fred Moore, making overly dramatic speeches filled with excessive...