America Is Hard To See

(Emile de Antonio, US 1970, 90 min., 16mm)

Labor Film Series. 1968: a critical year in world and US history. The Viet Cong launch the Tet offensive, ten million French workers join a general strike, the Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia, and hundreds of students are gunned down in Mexico City. After Eugene McCarthy almost wins the New Hampshire primary, Robert Kennedy enters the race and LBJ declines to run. Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder is followed by riots in many US cities. RFK’s murder leads to the nomination of Hubert Humphrey amid a Chicago police riot. Richard Nixon becomes president. Radical filmmaker Emile de Antonio’s chronicle of the 1968 Democratic primaries and convention is a timely film in this year’s contentious election and usefully complements Medium Cool (screening October 7).