Sunday

Don Drasin was 19 when he shot this movie as the Beatnik Riot occurred. That's what it was called, but looking at this, it was more of a sit-in, with one protester screaming because she couldn't move fast in her high heels and the cops were pushing her along.

Washington Square Park had been a place for decades for people to go and do harmless stuff on Sundays. Stuff like sitting around, playing your musical instruments -- mostly guitars on view here, but I did spot one hammered dulcimer --and perform. Usually that's the very definition of peaceably assembling, but the Parks Commission required a permit, which was always forthcoming. Until one day, it wasn't. And when people showed up anyway, so did the police.

People make a big deal of it. I think it was more of a "what were they thinking?" situation. People still gather in Central Park on the weekend to play instruments and just be part of the scene. I don't know if a permit is required. I think not.

Dan Drasin is a talented cameraman and director in one person. It is unbelievable that he was just 18 years old when he shot that movie. The framing under live circumstances is great as is the editing.

This movie let's you feel the energy and emotions of that moment. It is really intense and makes one wonder how he got out at the end without being harmed. An important historic document.

It is the first Social Protest Documentary Film of the 60s Movement. Dan Drasin told us at the end that he got his equipment and film stock from his collaborating friends D.A. Pennebaker and the Maysles Brothers. So this really was a time where people were able to go out and do something within a short time (with a little help from their friends).

At the Vienna International Film Festival it was shown together with his short film "X" from 1962 [a gem, which makes it even more a shame that it isn't even listed on IMDB's database](and Robert Frank's "Pull my daisy"), that shows his talent of telling a story with a "message" in an effective and amusing way.

Hopefully somebody like the Criterion Collection is able to collect them together with some other short films of that period and releases them on DVD.