Red Squad. 1972. By the Pacific Street Collective.

(2/22/01)

This is a feisty little cinema-verite picture. The basic idea is that the police (and possibly other "authorities") were covertly photographing and following and collecting information on people. So the filmmakers turned the tables on them and filmed and taped them. And the authorities didn't like it. And the film exposes them and their tactics. And it feels so good.

There are some great moments of encounters with cops. We see police questioning a young man sitting in his car or standing by it about his friends who are at that moment filming them. There are interviews with the parents of one of the filmmakers who have been questioned or interrogated by members of the "red squad." This was an obvious attempt at intimidation and it is wonderful seeing this middle-class couple backing up and supporting their son against the establishment in what look like "radical" activities.

This film explains the tactics used by the police. Taking photos of people at rallies or demonstrations, for example, is a way of intimidating people into not coming. Another is addressing people--who have presumably never seen them before--by their first names, implying that they are being watched and observed.

One thing that works very well in this film is the singling out of one person and making the audience very aware of him. The person they used was Detective John Finegan who becomes a name and a face that we remember. In effect he becomes the main character of the film. I would like to know something of what happened to him in the years after 1972.

So what is most enjoyable about this film is that the hunters become the hunted. I also liked the shots of a young Ed Koch expostulating about how abhorrent and unacceptable is the collecting of information on citizens.

The film flounders after a while. After we get beyond the scenes of the police being filmed without their cooperation the film becomes a lot less interesting. The last part is an interview with ablack man who infiltrated radical groups on behalf of the government. I found my attention waning. Interestingly enough, that interview is subtitled. Earlier in the film we hear a tape which was made surreptitiously of an encounter with police officers. That recording was barely audible. I wonder why it wasn't subtitled.