William Kunstler, an activist attorney in the days that activists took to the streets, eventually seemed to believe that he was more important than the people he represented, an action that led him from defending those who were fighting for their rights to defending those who would help him into the headlines.
"William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe," a documentary made by his two youngest daughters, Emily and Sarah, leans in favor of the flamboyant attorney (he is their father, after all), but often shows the difficulties caused by his actions, his clients and his ego, and they discuss some of the problems they faced because of that.
Kunstler, a New Yorker who had a quiet little law firm, became involved in civil rights work after a local housing case in New York's Westchester County in 1960, and when he discovered he really liked the news spotlight, his career changed. He represented the Catonsville 9, the Chicago 7, the inmates at Attica, the Native Americans at Wounded Knee, but as the '60s became the '80s, and his clients included dealing with such as Larry Davis, who shot six policemen; El Sayyid Nosair, who killed Meir Kahana; and John Gotti, his popularity paled.
The Kunstler girls co-directed, Sarah, 33, wrote it and Emily, 31 narrates. They admit that they told protesters outside their Greenwich Village home that they did not live there and speak of living in fear, and while they love and admire their father, who died when they were teenagers, they admit some of his shortcomings. The documentary also includes archuival footage and/or interviews with such as Jimmy Breslin, Bobby Seale, Tom Hayden, Fred Hampton, Alan Dershowitz and Julian Bond and is an interesting look at an interesting time. Opens today at the Plaza Frontenac.
-Joe
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