Although it’s getting only a week-long run in London, the compelling documentary 1971 is well worth seeking out, especially for anyone with an interest in activism and counterculture history. Executive produced by Laura Poitras, who directed the award-winning doc Citizenfour, about Edward Snowden, this mix of interviews and reconstruction tells the story of how, in 1971, before Watergate, eight civil-rights protestors stole documents from an FBI field office and sent them to the press, exposing some of the bureau’s most outrageous illegal counterintelligence activities. Deftly assembled, albeit with TV exposé production values, this is not only a rousing story of radicals sticking it to the man, but also a thriller of sorts, a portrait of the times and a moving narrative about people willing to risk their safety and happiness to do what they thought was right. Someone has to make a docudrama version, with big stars in hippie drag and a vintage early-70s rock soundtrack.
