William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe

Director: Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler
Producer: Jesse Moss
Cast: William Kunstler, Herman Badillo, Dennis Banks, Harry Belafonte, Clyde Bellecourt, Father Daniel Berrigan, Phil Donahue
Off-Center Productions
Distributed by Arthouse Films
For more information and screening dates, see: www.disturbingtheuniverse.com

The daughters of the activist lawyer William Kunstler, Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler, are the authors of this film about the career of the controversial and combative attorney the New York Times aptly dubbed “the most hated and most loved lawyer in America,” but that does not mean they are not otherwise eminently qualified to take on such a project. The sisters are the founders of Off Center Media and have produced a host of documentaries, including Tulia, Texas: Scenes from the Drug War, which took the honors for Best Documentary Short at the Woodstock Film Festival and, more to the point, was instrumental in winning exoneration for 46 wrongfully convicted people, an overwhelming proffer of proof that they are indeed their father’s daughters.

 Disturbing the Universe is loving but unsparing of the great man’s flaws. He was over fond of the spotlight to the extent of becoming almost a parody of himself -- as a regular guest on Phil Donahue and, most embarrassing to his teenage daughters, by participating in a staged trial defending a cat charged with crimes against humanity. To be fair, the cat looked a bit shifty. However, the movie makes it clear that despite his flaws, Kunstler never wavered in his belief that everyone, no matter how universally despised, deserves a fair trial, and to the end of his life, much to the annoyance of many of his supporters, he proved to be a passionate, articulate and successful advocate for even the most unpopular of defendants.

As every Citizen of the 60’s knows, Kunstler emerged in the national spotlight during the trial of the Chicago Seven, a travesty of legal proceedings during which one defendant (Bobby Seale) was famously gagged and tied to his chair. The experience radicalized Kunstler, as it did many young Americans. In a bit of absurd theater, Kunstler succeeded in turning the tables on the prosecution by putting the government on trial, for which he received a four-year sentence for contempt (later reversed by the 7th Court of Appeals).

Kunstler emerged from the Chicago Seven trial a hero and leader of the New Left, traveling across the country inspiring young people, particularly students, to stand up to the establishment. He was so successful in these endeavors that one newspaper reported his presence inspired a riot even before he showed up.

When the inmates of Attica rose in insurrection to protest what was later shown to be grossly inhumane conditions, Kunstler was invited to mediate. After two days of tense negotiation, Kunstler was cut out of the loop and New York State Police invaded the prison with overwhelming and deadly force, killing hostages and prisoners in an orgy of indiscriminate violence that sickened the nation and might have changed a lesser man into a hopeless cynic. Kunstler, however, was not one to dwell too long on his failures and when Native Americans took control of the town of Wounded Knee to protest the government’s failure to honor hundreds of treaties, he was once again called in to mediate. Although federal troops in armed personnel carriers moved in in a show of force that echoed the disaster at Attica, Kunstler managed to negotiate a peaceful surrender. Once again there was a trial of epic proportions, but this time there was a judge who listened and in the end was so impressed and appalled by Kunstler’s arguments that he dismissed all the charges and accused the government of misconduct and of violating the constitutional ban on the use of federal force on its own citizenry.

Decades later, Kunstler dismayed his supporters when he defended one of the young men accused of raping a jogger in Central Park. The defendants were vilified in the press, described as indulging in “wilding:” mindless, vicious group behavior. They were reviled as unworthy of redemption. Not even the non-profit Kunstker created to raise funds for the defense of unpopular causes supported him. When he lost the case, there was a universal sense that justice had been done. Year’s later, after Kunstler’s death, new DNA techniques proved the defendants were innocent and they were released. As Kunstler himself argued in a 1st Amendment case in defense of a flag-burner before the Supreme Court (“the World Series for lawyers,” he explained to his daughters), it is precisely that which you hate most to hear that requires protection. That was a case he won.

This is a well-made work of history that is as much about the evolution of the legal system in the second half of the American Century as it is about Kunstler's personal journey and his foibles.  One wishes there could have been a bit more personal detail, but this is such a captivating, engrossing film that it is certain to garner prizes and, perhaps, an Academy nomination, which it richly deserves.

Now in pre-release.  See www.disturbingtheuniverse.com for screening dates. 

Screened recently at The Actor's Gang in Culver City, one of L.A.'s finest cultural resources for theatre and special events

Jonathan Jerald
jonathan@bedlammagazine.com