Chisholm '72 - Unbought & Unbossed

Rating:
Summary: it was great!
Review:
Ok, I did not buy the DVD. Howver, I did see this film on an episode of POV which airs on the station PBS (Public Broadcasting Station). Regardless, the film was very well done. I love vintage footage so I was in heaven. This film has plenty of 1972 interviews, campaign commercials, demonstrations, they even play Shirley Chisholm's campaign song.

The documentary also did a great job of showing various points of view about the Chisholm campaign. It would have been real easy to manipulate the film so as to villanize those who didn't support Chisholm or did support and then turned later on it. The film is unbiased and honest. The participants interviewed made decisions like any human would. The viewer is given the opportunity to decide whether he thinks it was a good or bad choice.

My only criticism is that I wish I could've heard more about the other side of the campaign. How was Shirley Chisholm when the cameras weren't rolling or when the speech was over. There is a moment when Shirley is asked about an incident where she was almost stabbed in the back. She was naturally uncomfortable with that moment and she became a bit choked up. I wish there was more of that. It would have been good for people who want to follow in Chisholm's footsteps to see the personal struggles as well as the triumphs. But then the doc. is truly about her campaign. I'll just have to read her autobiography for the other details.

All in all, the doc. was very well done. It was educational, lively, exciting, and thought provoking. The real tragedy, though, isn't her defeat but that no one has picked up where she left off. The "dirty" politics that kept Shirley's campaign down are still well and alive today.