Chicago 10 DVD Review

Chicago 10

DVD Review
Paramount Home Entertainment
Released: August 19, 2008

Chicago 10 has been released on the DVD format from Paramount Home Entertainment, and features the tagline “The Convention Was Drama, The Trial Was Comedy.’  Needless to say, this is one unique film which unfortunately just falls short.

Chicago 10 as a film brings us back to a time when people took to the streets to make their voices hear, and did so on a regular basis.  The film features some very historical figures from the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.

The film, from Brett Morgen, is a very unique and imaginative documentary which chronicles the real-life events that surrounded the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the major anti-war protest that broke out around it.

You get to go face-to-face with original archival footage and music from the protest, as well as much more.  Protesters were hit with tear gas and much more, but stood their ground as they were led by the likes of Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and others.

They were later put on trial for causing violence, which ended up turning into quite the event in itself.

Director Brett Morgen does a good job of bringing us back to this period, and showing how everything played in a unique manner.  Half the film is a normal movie, while the other half is animated, showing what happened in the courtroom during the trial.

As stated, this is an extremely imaginative documentary, but falls short in how it was implemented.

The audio and video quality for this DVD release is impressive.  The video quality is dragged down a bit due to the source material not being up to par.  Beyond that though, everything is rather colorful and vibrant.  The audio is crisp and clear throughout with great dialogue and effects.

In terms of special features, you get some previews of upcoming releases, as well as a remix video of the film created by Gine Telaroli, who won a contest.

Overall Chicago 10 does a good job of presenting a great deal of information, but unfortunately falls short in how it is all implemented.  Worth a rental for interested fans of history.

Film: 7.5 Very creative to say the least, as well as informative.

Video: 8.0 The video quality is impressive with the only downside being the lacking source material.

Audio: 7.8 The audio mix presents the dialogue clearly thoroughly.

Extras: 6.0 The lack of extras is disappointing, as the lone extra is the added video remix from the contest winner.

Final Score: 6.8

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