Karl Hess: Toward Liberty
Encyclopedia
Karl Hess: Toward Liberty is a 1980
short documentary film
about the anarchist Karl Hess
, produced by Roland Hallé and Peter W. Ladue. It won an Academy Award in 1981
for Documentary Short Subject
. The film was produced at Boston University's College of Communications, School of Broadcasting and Film, Graduate Film Program. Several students, faculty and others made a substantial contribution to creating the film.
became the new wave in documentary film making. Boston filmmaker Fred Wiseman released “Titicut Follies” (1967), which took us inside a Massachusetts mental institution, and “High School” (1968), where we became the proverbial fly on the wall in an American secondary school. Like other Verite filmmakers, Wiseman’s approach was to shoot hundreds of hours of footage and shape the story in the editing room.
The same new technology that enabled French New Wave dramatic films was adopted by American documentary filmmakers. Small (for the day) hand held cameras and greatly improved 16mm film stocks eliminated the need for placing the camera on a tripod and washing a scene with intense lighting. Until that point, the size and bulk of film making equipment had limited the chance of capturing real life and real human behavior.
These films were a revelation. For the first time we were experiencing “real life” on film. No recreations, no staging. Cinema Verite was both voyeuristic and insightful. It was the world’s first Reality TV.
From the audience’s perspective, the camera in Verite took on an invisible presence within the scene. But was it invisible to the participants? How does the camera impact the reality of the moment? Does the editing and post-production process as well as the need to tell compelling stories mean that objectivity is not possible? Can we actually experience real life? Do we want to? This was the debate that took place at the Graduate Film Program that helped shape Karl Hess: Toward Liberty.
While Verite had a claim on reality, TV documentaries required balance. In part, this was driven by the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine, but more so by the reluctance of the network to offend any audience.
From the screening notes from the AMPAS Documentary Retrospective Oscar's Docs, Part Three, Linwood Dunn Theater, October 1, 2007 http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2007/07.08.23.html
While they would remain true to the man, Roland and Peter had no intention of becoming an invisible presence in the film. Working with hours of transcripts and footage, they shaped the story back in Boston, along with Editor Loren Miller. Their strategy was to give Karl a forum to speak his mind, building a storyline from interviews in which he leaped from one topic to another, and then periodically pop up to make a comment on Karl’s views. Their original intent was for Karl to be the only voice in the film, but during editing they decided to include opening narration to introduce Karl.
One scouting trip to West Virginia, two production trips to West Virginia, one to Washington D.C, and too many months later they were ready to run a check print. It’s hard to imagine today, with thousands of effects at our finger tips, that Peter and Roland couldn’t even see a dissolve until a print was struck.
People either loved or hated the film. It either won first pace at festivals or didn't make the cut. Standing in the back of at the first screening, they heard laughter and when the lights went up, intense conversations. Like filmmakers everywhere all they could see were the little things they wished they’d done differently. But as the film made the festival circuit, it became clear that audiences were enchanted by Karl. He was an authentic American character. If the film preserves the memory of Karl, it’s done its best.
From the screening notes from the AMPAS Documentary Retrospective Oscar's Docs, Part Three, Linwood Dunn Theater, October 1, 2007 http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2007/07.08.23.html
became the voice behind Republican conservatives including Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon
and Barry Goldwater
. When Goldwater was defeated, the conservative leadership was ostracized from the party. Karl became curious about the New Left
, the antiwar movement, local politics and economics, and alternative technology.
On his long strange journey Karl had gone from mainstream media to White House insider to being arrested on the Capital steps during an antiwar demonstration. There was a time when he was both writing Goldwater’s newspaper column and active in the New Left.
For Karl, being a national player was not nearly as interesting as having a real impact at a neighborhood level. After working in D.C.’s Adams-Morgan neighborhood, Karl disappeared from the Washington scene. A stone’s throw from his old life, Karl and his wife Theresa settled near Martinsburg, West Virginia
in their hand-built, energy-efficient, earth-insulated home. Hess was fascinated by the possibilities of appropriate technology
to empower communities and individuals. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Karl taught a summer-long course at Goddard College
. This hands-on experience included building and operating solar and wind energy systems, aquacultural and organic farming.
His energy, his life experience, his take on the times, and most of all his sense of humor made Hess an ideal subject for a documentary.
1980 in film
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short documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
about the anarchist Karl Hess
Karl Hess
Karl Hess was an American national-level speechwriter and author. He was also a political philosopher, editor, welder, motorcycle racer, tax resister, atheist, and libertarian activist...
, produced by Roland Hallé and Peter W. Ladue. It won an Academy Award in 1981
53rd Academy Awards
The 53rd Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1980, were presented March 31, 1981, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The ceremonies, which were presided over by Johnny Carson, were originally scheduled for the previous day but were postponed due to the assassination attempt...
for Documentary Short Subject
Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject
This is a list of films by year that have received an Oscar together with the other nominations for best documentary short subject. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are announced and presented early in the following year.-1940s:*1941...
. The film was produced at Boston University's College of Communications, School of Broadcasting and Film, Graduate Film Program. Several students, faculty and others made a substantial contribution to creating the film.
Background
During the late 60’s, Cinema Verite or Direct cinemaDirect Cinema
Direct Cinema is a documentary genre that originated between 1958 and 1962 in North America, principally in the Canadian province of Quebec and the United States...
became the new wave in documentary film making. Boston filmmaker Fred Wiseman released “Titicut Follies” (1967), which took us inside a Massachusetts mental institution, and “High School” (1968), where we became the proverbial fly on the wall in an American secondary school. Like other Verite filmmakers, Wiseman’s approach was to shoot hundreds of hours of footage and shape the story in the editing room.
The same new technology that enabled French New Wave dramatic films was adopted by American documentary filmmakers. Small (for the day) hand held cameras and greatly improved 16mm film stocks eliminated the need for placing the camera on a tripod and washing a scene with intense lighting. Until that point, the size and bulk of film making equipment had limited the chance of capturing real life and real human behavior.
These films were a revelation. For the first time we were experiencing “real life” on film. No recreations, no staging. Cinema Verite was both voyeuristic and insightful. It was the world’s first Reality TV.
From the audience’s perspective, the camera in Verite took on an invisible presence within the scene. But was it invisible to the participants? How does the camera impact the reality of the moment? Does the editing and post-production process as well as the need to tell compelling stories mean that objectivity is not possible? Can we actually experience real life? Do we want to? This was the debate that took place at the Graduate Film Program that helped shape Karl Hess: Toward Liberty.
While Verite had a claim on reality, TV documentaries required balance. In part, this was driven by the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine, but more so by the reluctance of the network to offend any audience.
From the screening notes from the AMPAS Documentary Retrospective Oscar's Docs, Part Three, Linwood Dunn Theater, October 1, 2007 http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2007/07.08.23.html
Production
In deliberate contrast to Direct Cinema and traditional documentaries, Toward Liberty wouldn’t pretend to be a slice of life or balanced. It would be transparent to the audience that this was one man’s – one very interesting man’s – take on America. Let a thousand voices speak and truth wins.While they would remain true to the man, Roland and Peter had no intention of becoming an invisible presence in the film. Working with hours of transcripts and footage, they shaped the story back in Boston, along with Editor Loren Miller. Their strategy was to give Karl a forum to speak his mind, building a storyline from interviews in which he leaped from one topic to another, and then periodically pop up to make a comment on Karl’s views. Their original intent was for Karl to be the only voice in the film, but during editing they decided to include opening narration to introduce Karl.
One scouting trip to West Virginia, two production trips to West Virginia, one to Washington D.C, and too many months later they were ready to run a check print. It’s hard to imagine today, with thousands of effects at our finger tips, that Peter and Roland couldn’t even see a dissolve until a print was struck.
People either loved or hated the film. It either won first pace at festivals or didn't make the cut. Standing in the back of at the first screening, they heard laughter and when the lights went up, intense conversations. Like filmmakers everywhere all they could see were the little things they wished they’d done differently. But as the film made the festival circuit, it became clear that audiences were enchanted by Karl. He was an authentic American character. If the film preserves the memory of Karl, it’s done its best.
From the screening notes from the AMPAS Documentary Retrospective Oscar's Docs, Part Three, Linwood Dunn Theater, October 1, 2007 http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2007/07.08.23.html
Karl Hess
The press editor of Newsweek magazine when was 26, Karl HessKarl Hess
Karl Hess was an American national-level speechwriter and author. He was also a political philosopher, editor, welder, motorcycle racer, tax resister, atheist, and libertarian activist...
became the voice behind Republican conservatives including Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
and Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
. When Goldwater was defeated, the conservative leadership was ostracized from the party. Karl became curious about the New Left
New Left
The New Left was a term used mainly in the United Kingdom and United States in reference to activists, educators, agitators and others in the 1960s and 1970s who sought to implement a broad range of reforms, in contrast to earlier leftist or Marxist movements that had taken a more vanguardist...
, the antiwar movement, local politics and economics, and alternative technology.
On his long strange journey Karl had gone from mainstream media to White House insider to being arrested on the Capital steps during an antiwar demonstration. There was a time when he was both writing Goldwater’s newspaper column and active in the New Left.
For Karl, being a national player was not nearly as interesting as having a real impact at a neighborhood level. After working in D.C.’s Adams-Morgan neighborhood, Karl disappeared from the Washington scene. A stone’s throw from his old life, Karl and his wife Theresa settled near Martinsburg, West Virginia
Martinsburg, West Virginia
Martinsburg is a city in the Eastern Panhandle region of West Virginia, United States. The city's population was 14,972 at the 2000 census; according to a 2009 Census Bureau estimate, Martinsburg's population was 17,117, making it the largest city in the Eastern Panhandle and the eighth largest...
in their hand-built, energy-efficient, earth-insulated home. Hess was fascinated by the possibilities of appropriate technology
Appropriate technology
Appropriate technology is an ideological movement originally articulated as "intermediate technology" by the economist Dr...
to empower communities and individuals. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Karl taught a summer-long course at Goddard College
Goddard College
Goddard College is a private, liberal arts college located in Plainfield, Vermont, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Goddard College currently operates on an intensive low-residency model...
. This hands-on experience included building and operating solar and wind energy systems, aquacultural and organic farming.
His energy, his life experience, his take on the times, and most of all his sense of humor made Hess an ideal subject for a documentary.
Awards
- 1980 - Maya Dern Award, Boston University
- 1980 - FOCUS Student Film Festival, Best Film
- 1980 - AMPAS Student Film Award, Best Documentary
- 1981 - Academy Award: Best Documentary Short Subject
- 1981 - CINE Golden Eagle
- 1981 - Governor's Award, State of Massachusetts
Cast
- Karl HessKarl HessKarl Hess was an American national-level speechwriter and author. He was also a political philosopher, editor, welder, motorcycle racer, tax resister, atheist, and libertarian activist...
- Himself (also archive footage) - Kevin BurnsKevin BurnsKevin Burns is an American television and film producer, director, and screenwriter. His work can be seen on A&E, National Geographic Channel, E!, Animal Planet, AMC, Bravo, Travel Channel, Lifetime, and The History Channel.-Early life:...
- Narrator (voice) - Barry GoldwaterBarry GoldwaterBarry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
- Himself (archive footage) - Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
- Himself (archive footage) - Lyndon Johnson - Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)