American Commune

I love documentaries that take me back to places, events and people I remember, this is one of those films that does just that.

Because I lived in San Francisco in the 1970's I could relate to these folks, although I was not part of this group, but knew of them. They had departed just prior to my arrival, but they didn't take all of the "free love" young revolutionaries. The look of these young people was so much a part of the Haight scene, I remember the look, the styles, the faces so very well. The Farm hippies could have been any of us, and they were.

I was worried this was going to be a sour sort of trash the Farm kinda of film, it wasn't. Were there problem, of course, but it was a much better place to be than New York City or Chicago, that's for sure.

I was also worried the leader Stephan Gaskin was going to turn out like so many "spiritual" leaders of the day did. He had all the draw, power etc. to uproot young people and take them off to distant places, so what happens? Well we all know the Farm was not Guyana, thank the universe, but you really do need to watch the film to find out what happens.

It is worth your time.

This is a privileged view inside an oft-critiqued but little studied historical movement, the "60s commune". (Most of which actually happened in the 70s, but "60s" is shorthand for hippy counterculture. Most of which also happened in the 70s.)

The angle is unique: two children of America's largest and most successful commune return to the scene of the crime as adults to revisit their early years, reconnect with happy memories, and make peace with some of the resentment they still feel about their unorthodox childhood. This is a rare, balanced treatment of the subject, from the perspective of younger participants not caught up in the ideology of their parents' generation, but who took the same wild ride all the same.

That alone makes this a valuable document. Most of what's available about communes was either produced by Baby Boomers on a nostalgia (or vengeance) kick, or by academics who take a cool, remote stance. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get real authority on the subject, both factual and emotional, from filmmakers who are simultaneously insiders and outsiders.

I'm from that era -- not a Baby Boomer, but a member of the next generation (X). I knew both the Boomers in their still-hip phase, and the criticism of them from my parent's 50s generation and the culture at large. (A view I somewhat held myself, at the time.) I was a teenager during the heyday of the commune, and had school friends who lived in communal circumstances. Much of what I saw in this movie reminded me of what I experienced of their home lives, positive and negative.

Now that I'm old I've become an armchair scholar of the commune movement, inspired partly by those memories of my youth, and never pass up source material on it. American Commune is the best commune doc I've seen. Given its unique origins, it's unlikely to be excelled.

Bumped into this doc in a random way, decided to give it a try and was captivated.

Amazing original footage, great editing, love the narration, the details and the fact that they stay focused on the concept: the rise and fall of the "Farm" is presented, but what stays on the foreground is the sisters' story.

The story of 2 sisters who go back to their childhood "hometown" to make peace with the past is nothing new, but what makes the difference is that their hometown is a hippy utopia commune based on a farm. If you are into that era you should watch it just for the original footage that is so candid and unfiltered... no social media at that time so people were being themselves while being filmed, not acting in a way to feed the algorithm.

Love the interviews: convincing the sister's parents, past members of the commune, the commune leader to talk on camera is fantastic and what elevates this doc to a higher level than most other productions.

Conflicts abound and it's what kept me interested. Hippies and "modern society", husband and wife, parents and children, commune members and the Federal Government, commune members and the commune leadership.

No spoilers but: it is smartly edited. Questions arise in a natural way, which is what keeps me watching to get an answer. Good balance of exposition and "show dont tell: the sisters recalling their past and watching the trajectory of what happened.

Great production!

• - - -

some takeaways about the utopian commune lifestyle:

• sacrificing personal well-being (and your family's harmony) for a "greater good" leads to burnout.

Having no privacy, no private property, no money, limited personal decision making is not healthy.

• open door policy is a recipe for disaster: without vetting and assigning roles to people who want to join the "club" you'll attract unstable people who just want to take without giving. They will make the environment toxic. The Amish could teach them a thing or two.

• Hierarchy and a system to keep those in power in check are needed. When you have large number of people leadership plays a critical role but its ability to make decisions must be contained. Not only power can lead to those "ego trips" they were preaching about but you can make fatal mistakes and ruin many people lives. (e.g. In the doc: going to guatemala, having ambulance in NYC)

I don't want to have spoilers because this documentary will surprise you and that is a nice benefit to experience along with the large amount of information it provides.

What my wife, daughter and I liked was that the documentary shared the personal experiences of the two sisters and their parents and of a few others. That helped draw you in. It also did a good job outlining the hopes, aspirations and motives of the people who established the commune. Let me just say that they had good intentions in establishing this commune.

Having some knowledge of this commune I think the Mundo sisters left out some important details such as sanitation and hygiene problems, health and disease issues related to sanitation and to the huge consumption of soybeans and other plant material. They failed to mention the numerous wives their leader had and they skimmed over the underlying religious/spiritual tenets that led to hypocrisy.

I wanted to give the documentary a 10 out of 10 but I think in just an additional 15 minutes the sisters could have given a more thorough presentation. Still, it was a very captivating and very well directed and written documentary.

I highly recommend it.

There's enough original footage and recent commentary that you, the viewer, can draw your own conclusions about the Grand Experiment formally known as The Farm. It's all there. The Farm has always been known for it's blunt honesty, and the film is certainly honest enough (and unbiased enough) for the viewer to draw her own conclusions.

My mind focused mainly on the history and the economics of The Farm. And that part of the movie was fleshed out in enough detail to provide plenty of food for thought.

But how the movie spoke to my heart is more difficult to put into words. I visited The Farm when I was young, and it was indeed like visiting a foreign country. In fact, I've never visited a foreign country that seemed anywhere near as different as visiting The Farm did.

When my heart quietly reflects on the movie, I see the beauty of the land. The children walk to school through the forest, and are perfectly safe in doing so. In fact, they're perfectly safe, no matter where they go and what they do. How different from America!

Just looking at the people's faces as they're talking taught me so much. By comparison to the faces of most Americans, they're alive with emotion. They haven't had an upbringing which has beaten them down or broken them, or drained the life out of them.

Their upbringing was both impoverished and strict. The strict rules are well-intentioned, and generally derived from hippie culture. Because it was so strict, I was asking myself, "Was this a cult?" And I'd say no. Even though Stephen Gaskin was unquestionably the leader of The Farm, he was a very benign dictator. Not always right, but always concerned for what was best for the community, rather than what was best for himself.