Saturday, April 12, 2008

1:47 A Documentary Film

photo by Ralph Pyle

"The year is 1968. Across the United States, it was a year of turmoil: the Vietnam War, Civil Rights protests in cities and on college campuses, the assassination of Martin Luther King. Yet, in many small cities and towns a relative calm, almost innocence, prevailed. The documentary film 1:47 tells the story of one such community - Richmond, Indiana - that would lose that calm and innocence in a single fateful day: Saturday, April 6, 1968."

On that fateful day, a massive double explosion rocked the downtown shopping area, not far from the courthouse. Destruction, death, and chaos ensued and this peaceful midwestern community was changed forever.

Richmond is our nearest "big city," roughly 15 miles south of where we live.  Last night, Nancy, my mom, my grandmother, and I went to see this locally-produced documentary in the old theater at the Richmond Museum of Art. It was an absorbing film, incorporating the remembrances of many of the local people whose lives were touched by this tragedy.  The filmmakers do a remarkable job, also, of illuminating the fascinating and important historical context that frames this event.  

1:47 is about to hit the documentary film circuit, and I hope it does very well.

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