Kent State

This movie is not an accurate depiction of what REALLY occurred at Kent State in May of 1970.

I filled out a review form for more detail, but in short, this movie is pure fantasy from the movie set to the storyline. The only people who should view this movie are history scholars that want an example of self-serving media manipulation of historical facts. This movie, because of theatrical license, pays no respect to Kent State University, the City of Kent, or the students that were killed and wounded.

No student at Kent State deserved the ultimate results, but promoting a phony docu-drama makes a mockery of the whole tragic situation. I was there. The video is a joke.

This movie should be required viewing of every student (and some adults) in America. That would help to remind the entire country of its history. The lack of comments about this movie testify to the fact that this incident has been all but forgotten in a country that is so vocal about Tiananmen Square.

This movie should be required viewing for every student in America. It tells the true story of the murder of 4 students at Kent State University by National Guardsmen. This is America's Tienamin Square.

Any student of American history who is not aware of this dark point in history would do well to watch carefully and understand how this situation got out of hand....

While the acting is not necessarily Oscar material, the movie's appeal is for it's historical value......

This is a very balanced portrayal and demonstrates the failures on all sides of the event. Yes, those shot and killed were innocent youth, some whom just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Yes, the SDS was on campus encouraging widespread unrest and violence. Yes, most of the National Guard troops were exhausted kids put in an impossible situation with live ammunition. Yes, the politicians involved were inept boobs who had no clue as to the right way to manage the situation and took actions to violate the students' constitution rights. The only major miss here was they show the burning of the ROTC building but leave out much of the other destruction caused to the city of Kent, which was a key factor in the level of tension in the community and led to extreme reactive actions on all sides.

Wow.

I remember this movie; another comment on the IMDb pointed out how this should be required viewing for students, and I actually DID see this film in high school, several years ago. It stuck with me, though for some reason it never occurred to me to look it up on the IMDb-- I found it quite by accident.

The movie did a great job of establishing the characters and the time, though kind of tipped its hand as to the fates of these main characters. One scene sticks out in my memory as a professor gives a short speech about Gus Flaubert, to an empty classroom-- I mean, it's not supposed to be empty, the students are supposed to be implied, but it's a TV movie so I guess they couldn't afford extras that day.

Anyway. Things can get pretty crazy in a heated political climate; with all the hate and anger being spewed by Fox News commentators toward Liberal America, this film is still a sobering reminder of the mistrust certain cultures in America have for others, and when that's met with violence, there are terrible consequences. This film isn't the most technically well-made (it was a TV-movie after all), but is still required viewing until someone has the vision, and the courage, to make the film we so desperately need.