Free Bird!

Comments (0) By Michael Fox Wednesday, Nov 10 2010

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Carlos, along with the recent Che and The Baader Meinhof Complex, reminds us in varying shades of crimson that one man’s revolutionary is another man’s terrorist. (And vice versa.) Filmmakers don’t have to trek to other lands to find freedom fighters raising hell and controversy, however. In the galvanizing new drama Bold Native, Denis Henry Hennelly (Rock the Bells) and Casey Suchan portray the efforts of American animal-rights activist Charlie Cranehill (played by Joaquin Pastor) to organize a brawling national resistance. The politically charged film honors a range of approaches — while Charlie crosses the country marshaling allies, a staffer at an animal welfare organization pursues trad strategies for improving conditions on industrial farms — each aimed at infusing capitalism with compassion. To that end, the filmmakers’ integration of real footage of animal testing into the narrative is particularly effective at piercing hearts. After all, effective agitprop, not to mention a successful revolution, entails winning the masses to the cause. Hennelly is expected to attend both screenings tonight, along with coproducer Suchan, Santa Cruz author John Robbins (The Food Revolution), and activist Jake Conroy.
Thu., Nov. 18, 7 & 9:30 p.m., 2010