| Movie Review | The Journal of American History, 92.3

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 288 words from this article are provided below; about 462 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Movie Review | The Journal of American History, 92.3 | The History Cooperative

Movie Reviews

Emma Goldman. Dir. and prod. by Mel Bucklin. Nebraska ETV Network, 2004. 90 mins. (PBS Video, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314-1698; 800-344-3337; <shop@pbs.org>; <http://shop.pbs.org/education/> [Sept. 12, 2005])

Mel Bucklin's television documentary on Emma Goldman offers very little to enrich the teaching of U.S. history at either the high school or the college level. Her film presents neither a visual/aural exposure to the incredible documentary record that has been compiled on Goldman nor a compelling historical re-creation of the actual social and political context in which Goldman lived and agitated. Bucklin's narrative framing highlights Goldman as a sensational outsider, opening with Goldman's deportation as a "dangerous radical"; one does not have to look hard to recognize a post-9/11 political framing of "enemy aliens." The connection is made literal when Bucklin includes footage with the biographer Alice Wexler describing Goldman's anarchist comrade Alexander Berkman as a "suicide bomber." The film's dramatic arc begins with an emphasis on Goldman's involvement with Berkman's political assassination attempt and her arrest after Leon Czolgosz's assassination of William McKinley; it moves through Goldman's lecture circuit, her growing distance from Berkman, her love affair with Ben Reitman, and another arrest; and it builds up to Goldman's opposition to World War I and her final arrest and deportation, ending with exile, isolation, and death—omitting, among other things, Goldman's committed engagement with the anarchists of the Spanish civil war at the end of her life. The not particularly powerful visual effects include waves, trees, snow; a set of formal photos of Goldman; historical footage of the deportation, the Russian Revolution, and Bolshevik excess; and several dramatic reenactments to represent Goldman writing, Berkman's assassination attempt, and lovemaking between Goldman and Reitman.

. . .

There are about 462 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.