This Revolution

If you are a Bush-Cheney supporter who believes in conservative values, this movie may not be for you. The conservative point of view is presented but mostly to be ridiculed or criticized. Those who served in the military are respected and praised, but why they were serving is another matter.

Of course the protesters are more than just lazy people looking for an excuse to make trouble as some of the conservatives think. But they are working hard to take a stand and drive change. If they were lazy they'd just back down from all the adversity.

Rosario Dawson does a great job as a mother who is trying to cope and seems reasonably happy considering her circumstances. And she is pushing her son to be more than she is.

Nathan Crooker does a good job as an idealistic journalist.

The real stars of the movie are the ordinary people. Most appear to be merely actors but they come across as more. And there is a lot of what appears to be real footage.

And of course the convention itself was real. According to this movie, though, Bush didn't speak at night, but I guess that's a minor criticism. Maybe it wasn't safe to film that part of the powerful climactic scene during the day.

The ending is pretty amazing if disturbing.

There is some violence, but it's not too bad. I'm so glad I saw this movie cleaned up for TV, because the sound went out a lot.

It's not what we would like to see, and it's not necessarily the truth, but it's what we need to see. If only to make us think.

Writer/director Steve Marshall may have thought himself in trouble when the big name star of his low budget film got arrested doing a shoot during the real protests in New York. Certainly he had to rework his film to accommodate the loss of Dawson but I think he quickly got over it and was thankful for it happening – particularly for all the press the film got at the time. I know I watched this film because it stuck in my head for that reason and I imagine that many others heard about it and saw it as a result of her arrest. And, from Marshall's point of view it is a blessing because there is very little else about the film that makes it memorable or something to be talked about.

The film appears to have been conceived in good faith as an attempt to capture the spirit of the activists and deliver their message in a film. However in reality the film has a very thin plot that it spends a lot of time on and leaves most of the commentary down to asides that are sound-bites no different from those you have heard before. If you agree with what they are saying then I guess maybe you can ignore the quality of the film and embrace this content but that will only appeal to a limited audience and even then. Many have criticised the quality of the filming but I can forgive this to a point given the low budget and style of making. Some of the set shots are really clunky and obvious though and little about Marshall as director is of interest. The real problem is in the material though which doesn't have the complexity and realism to draw the viewer into the characters or the discussion. This is a real shame considering how many viewers (including myself) will agree with the broad sentiments of the activists (if not their methods) but yet it just clunks around on the screen in an annoying way.

The blame must more or less be totally put at the feet of Marshall because he is responsible for the majority of the film. His low budget matches his low ambitions in regards his cinematography and plotting and the end result is a rather lacklustre film that looks cheap and feels thrown together. The cast are mixed but generally don't have the material to help. Even if Dawson got the cover and the headlines, Crooker takes the main character – you will probably not have heard of him as an actor because he is frankly not very good. He doesn't feel real and has no screen presence – not helped by the nature of filming either. Dawson tries to have chemistry with him but it doesn't really work. She is good once (on the fire escape) but she has no character, no material and has been put in a hairstyle meant to make us think "street" but only made me think "wow, someone has worked out a way to make the stunning Rosario Dawson look ugly". Outside of these two the supporting cast are mixed – the activists generally convince but other set performances are generally weak. It was a nice idea to have the political rapper Immortal Technique involved but again this doesn't work within the context of the film.

This Revolution is a nice idea and got fame from Dawson's arrest but yet it doesn't make the most of this potential. The ugly visuals I can sort of understand but the plot is messy, the characters poorly drawn and the message is clunked down in an obvious manner that is a lot less effective than it would have been if it had been delivered with intelligence, insight and debate. Of course it has been made for a target audience who loved it before they saw it, but for the casual viewer this is a pretty average film.

I saw this film tonight at the Beyond TV festival in Swansea, S. Wales and I was very impressed. As well as being an intelligent expose of the Big Brother state that the US has become, the film is also very enjoyable at all levels, and I think it would appeal to a wider audience. The protest scenes at the beginning really set the pace for the film which never lets up until the end. Its great to see a film about the real America without the Hollywood glitz. I'd happily recommend anyone seeing this film, and I'm glad to hear that it's coming out on DVD. I'd be interested to know how much of an airing it gets in the US.

This movie offers true insight into the plight of the "real" average American. It depicts a hard core reality, and helps to clarify what system is keeping us down and who "The Man" really is! Working in the South Bronx of New York, I can testify that the reality of the situation (as accurately portrayed by "This Revolution") is harsh, and often times something middle America doesn't realize, or is blinded to seeing, either because they reject it, agree with it, just plain don't know.... I gave it a nine because the acting isn't that great at times, but the message more than makes up for it... for those who know, it's powerful, for those who don't know, it might just fly right over their heads....

I also saw this film at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and I nearly walked out, but couldn't not watch, it was so bad. The story was so unbelievable, I felt no real sympathy for the protagonist who is arrogant and cheats on his girlfriend, the storyline that eventually unfolds between Jake and Tina is completely predictable, the footage looks horrible. I should have walked out when the director himself announced before the screening that it was conceived, written, cast, shot, and edited in less than 100 days. Believe me, it shows.

I have no problem with directors putting themselves in their own films - many greats have done it. But it is quite another thing when you're making a film that is arguably propaganda (and yes, my politics are very much to the left) and less satire and you cast yourself as the leader of an underground political action group. Not only that, but you look several times directly into the camera and deliver a barrage of your own personal politics. That's just bad film-making.

Don't waste your time on this film. If you want propaganda, watch Michael Moore. At least his work is documentary and you know what you're getting, and it's not veiled ever so thinly in narrative. If you want satire, watch Dr. Strangelove or Wag The Dog. Maybe Mr. Marshall should, too.