Howard Zinn - You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train

Starring:Matt Damon, Howard Zinn, Daniel Berrigan, Alice Walker, Marian Wright Edelman, Daniel Ellsberg, John Silber, Noam Chomsky, Tom Hayden
Director: Deb Ellis, Denis Mueller
Studio: First Run Features
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
In these turbulent times, Howard Zinn is inspiring a new generation. This acclaimed film looks at the amazing life of the renowned historian, activist and author. Following his early days as a shipyard labor organizer and bombardier in World War II, Zinn became an academic rebel and leader of civil disobedience in a time of institutionalized racism and war. His influential writings shine light on and bring voice to factory workers, immigrant laborers, African Americans, Native Americans and the working poor. Featuring rare archival materials and interviews with Zinn and colleagues such as Noam Chomsky, YOU CAN'T BE NEUTRAL captures the essence of this extraordinary man who has been a catalyst for progressive change for more than 60 years. Narrated by Matt Damon; Featuring Music by Pearl Jam, Woody Guthrie & Billy Bragg.

Howard Zinn - You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train
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The Original "Question Authority" Man

A revolution in kindness.

Fabricating History.

Smart, Courageous, and Inspiring

Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train

Howard Zinn - You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train
Starring: Matt Damon , Howard Zinn , Daniel Berrigan , Alice Walker , and Marian Wright Edelman
Director: Deb Ellis , and Denis Mueller
Manufacturer: First Run Features
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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The Corporation

ASIN: B0007TKOSC
Release Date: 2005-05-24

Description

In these turbulent times, Howard Zinn is inspiring a new generation. This acclaimed film looks at the amazing life of the renowned historian, activist and author. Following his early days as a shipyard labor organizer and bombardier in World War II, Zinn became an academic rebel and leader of civil disobedience in a time of institutionalized racism and war. His influential writings shine light on and bring voice to factory workers, immigrant laborers, African Americans, Native Americans and the working poor. Featuring rare archival materials and interviews with Zinn and colleagues such as Noam Chomsky, YOU CAN'T BE NEUTRAL captures the essence of this extraordinary man who has been a catalyst for progressive change for more than 60 years. Narrated by Matt Damon; Featuring Music by Pearl Jam, Woody Guthrie & Billy Bragg.

Customer Reviews:

The Original "Question Authority" Man.......2007-06-25

I was fortunate to be able to see this film in the company of people who "get it," and within the context of a rare community that "gets it". Zinn's uncompromising challenge to a broken system of Might Makes A Mess is refreshing. Maybe that's because I am otherwise surrounded by people who scapegoat liberals, gays and flag burners (as if that's a big problem anywhere in the U.S.) to balance the moral deficit created by napalm, smart bombs and a government that turns out not to be impartial, after all. It's an uphill battle sometimes. You've heard the arguments, and the people who make them, about how war is good for the economy; brutality and torture are just a part of war; get the terrorists on their own turf before they get us on ours, etc., etc. ad nauseam.

That history repeats itself is discouraging enough, without realizing how mistakes get repeated, as well--re: G.W.B. (alias Whiskey Tango Foxtrot). I just heard on the news that Dick Cheney has declared himself no longer a member of the Executive Branch of government? He has assumed Presidency of the Senate, instead, to circumvent having to provide the Senate with intelligence? Try to figure that one out. In this age of diluted authority, evil intelligence seems to have possessed entire organizations, and individuals are no longer held responsible.

This film is as good a biography of Zinn as you can get. His early romance with wife Ros, and their blossoming partnership were touching. The irony of giving an anti-war speech at the very moment he was being voted for tenure at B.U. was comedic. Levity was sprinkled generously throughout the film. Never an obnoxious zealot, he is a warm-and-human hearted activist. His confrontation with former Boston U. President John Silber was delightfully "in your face".

Co-Director Deb Ellis was present in the hall where this documentary showed, and answered many questions afterward.

Some factoids revealed by Ellis during Q&A:
- Apparently, whether Zinn ever actually sang "America the Beautiful" to the North Vietnamese was questionable.
- Zinn put up a protective barrier between the producers and Ros, but they penetrated his defense by impressing how important it was that she be included in the film. Once that barrier came down, Ros supplied the directors with loads of photographs and ephemera.
- One of Howard's complaints, apparently, was that there "wasn't enough of me in it."

I actually have met at least one person in the documentary, and that was the gentleman who introduced Howard at a B.U. rally near the documentary's end. He happens to be conduct ACLU meetings for the area where I live. The man who brought the film to our little local theater showed up with a box of Howard Zinn-signed "A People's History of America" books, and of course I bought one for my activist niece. I hope she never loses her youthful idealism, the way Howard Zinn apparently has not.

One other anecdote, I watched the Zinn play "Marx in Soho" on the same stage that I saw this film. The cameo appearance of an actor who played that part in "You Can't Be Neutral" was nowhere near as Marx-like as the actor I saw (and interviewed, and had lunch with on the Saturday he came to town), a history professor by the name of Jerry Levy, of Marlboro College, Vermont.

A revolution in kindness........2007-01-22

Sometimes I find the thoughts of Zinn's detractors to be at least as interesting as those of his admirers. Bernard Chapin's negative review was no exception. Chapin holds a world view that our militarists are constantly pushing in an attempt to rationalize their aggression; that is, "foul acts like murder, slavery, and wanton destruction are ubiquitous to humanity, and were committed by people all over the world since the beginning of time" (to quote Chapin's review of Pat Buchanan's "State of Emergency"). There is usually an element of truth to effective propaganda and, no doubt, the Nazis, Genghis Khan, Stalin, child abusers, rapists and others have resorted to similar rationalizations for their own "foul acts." Zinn, on the other hand,
resists the perception management efforts that make war easy. Instead, he's been a tireless advocate for the causes of peace and justice. He's been at the war protests, stood in the picket lines, lectured/written tirelessly, and he's supported groups like "Emergency" that sends doctors into war zones to try to stitch together the bodies torn apart by the "wanton destruction" of Western so-called Civilization.

Zinn himself has directly participated in that destruction. As a World War II bombadeer, he was part of a raid that pioneered the use of napalm. It was an act for which many would have sought some psychologically comforting justification. Zinn instead chose to be honest about the inexcusable barbarity of burning civilians alive, and dedicated himself to resisting the efforts of our warlords. One of his many insights that undercut the narratives of our military establishment is this bit of good news that appears towards the end of the film, Zinn is quoted as saying, "To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness . . . And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."
It's this reminder, that wanton kindness is just as much a part of our nature as anything else, that is the most subversive message of Zinn's work. It also is the teaching of the Dalai Lama, our mothers, and other people very much worth listening to.

Fabricating History. .......2006-06-01

Few leftist icons are looked upon more favorably than professor and activist Howard Zinn. Like many radical ideologues, he is the darling of students, the professorate, and the glitterati. Indeed, Hollywood star Matt Damon provided the narration for a hagiographic documentary about his life entitled, Howard Zinn -You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train.

"You can't be neutral" is a reference to Zinn's belief that all history is skewed by the mind that conveys it, and that the best historians must be "engaged" in political and societal matters. Therefore, it is non-remarkable when their discussion of events always manages to be harmonious with their worldview. Such a post-modernist outlook is quite popular today, but prevalence is not always an indication of value. Zinn informs viewers that no work is ever completely objective, which then allows him (and other activists) to avoid using research and citations which do not substantiate their pre-determined suppositions.

That no historical account is ever 100 percent objective cannot be doubted, but an automaton's level of clinical impartiality is neither possible nor expected. One commits a black-or-white fallacy by pretending that it is as nothing can ever be 100 percent objective or subjective. Good history doggedly attempts to be unbiased. When it abandons its detachment, any amount of distortion becomes acceptable; history gets alchemized into propaganda. Zinn minimizes his own lack of scholarship in The Peoples' History of the United States by claiming that it was not written with an academic audience in mind.

As a man, Zinn appears to be more celebrity than egghead. He isn't one to quibble over the nature of secondary or primary source materials, he'd rather illustrate his points by quoting lyrics from a Woody Guthrie song. No doubt that the directors of this film ascribe to their subject's view of fairness as not one of the individuals interviewed uttered a single negative syllable about Zinn. Uniformly leftist luminaries like Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Marian Wright Edelman, Daniel Ellsberg, and Tom Hayden spent their segments exalting the importance of his impact upon society.

Their depiction of Zinn's personality was most revealing and in keeping with the tendencies of leftists in general. According to his friends and associates, he possesses a "steely anger," and "an endless capacity for moral outrage" which is representative of the whole. Dr. John Ray's key psychological components of the leftist are discernible in Zinn as his need for fame, praise, power, and attention are quite pronounced.

At one point, Zinn's perceptions appear utterly astonishing. As a Jew in the Air Force who was sent to fight the Nazis during World War II, he found himself in a position of, what should have been, absolute moral clarity. If ever a person was placed into a position where war was morally just, this was it. However, his reminiscences are confined to indignation over his unit's bombing an enclave of German soldiers. He lamented the action as the men in the French village, "weren't doing anything to anybody"--except defending the boundaries of a genocide state.

Perhaps the best way to sum up Howard Zinn is through words he applied to Uncle Sam: "limited, opinionated and with special interests."

Smart, Courageous, and Inspiring.......2006-04-08

"You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train" is like a cross between "Manufacturing Consent" and "Dead Poets Society." It is smart, courageous, and inspiring.

Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train.......2006-01-22

For anyone who loves America, please watch this film about an extraordinary historian and activist. I remember when Howard Zinn was at Spellman here in the Atlanta in the 60s. He has always had the courage to speak out -- frequently when no one else did. As America once more goes to war -- this time for oil and George W. Bush's ego -- Dr. Zinn's voice should and must be heard.

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