Rating:
Director: Kristi Jacobson
Producer: Barbara Kopple
Directors of Photography: Kirsten Johnson, Kristi Jacobson, Bob Maraist, Tom Kaufman
Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew
| AMERICAN
STANDOFF Rating: Director: Kristi Jacobson Producer: Barbara Kopple Directors of Photography: Kirsten Johnson, Kristi Jacobson, Bob Maraist, Tom Kaufman Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew |
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Review by: Warren
Curry
6/28/02
It never ceases to amaze me when documentary filmmakers start rolling their cameras and proceed to capture events that create a film they could never have envisioned. Such is the case with Kristi Jacobson's captivating new movie American Standoff (produced by documentary veteran Barbara Kopple), which sets its sights on the ongoing Teamsters strike at the national trucking company Overnite Transportation. Jacobson's work is certainly socio-political in nature, but the film's effectiveness is so great because it illuminates the human toll exacted in the midst of this labor struggle. Jacobson's film takes a decidedly pro-union stance, but she's not content to merely toss about pat slogans and instead gives you the opportunity to meet and connect with the people caught in the trenches.
Fed up with the constant abuses of Overnite Transportation, a company intent on squashing any groundswell of union activity, the Teamsters Union organized a national strike of Overnite's workers that Teamster V.P. and Director of Organizing, John Murphy, claimed would bring the company to a halt in three weeks. Twenty-one months later, when filming was completed, the two sides had still not come to terms on a contract and many of Overnite's employees were forced by financial realities to cross the picket line.
The Teamsters, led by president James P. Hoffa, did not count on the financial reserve Overnite would be so willing to tap into. Hoffa, himself, was caught in the midst of a civil dispute amongst the union, which seriously threatened his chances of being re-elected as president. The strike, which started off with such vigor, as the participants dutifully gathered and took part in such tactics as ambulatory picketing (where they would follow scab drivers and picket at their ultimate destination), slowly starts to crumble due to Overnite's staunch refusal to budge.
Jacobson lets us spend time with two figures in particular: Hope, a single mother of five in Chicago and Mike, a man with a wife and kids, who is struggling to hold on in Long Island and is actually arrested when Overnite charges him with theft (he would later be cleared of any wrongdoing). You can't help but become very concerned about these people, as they display the courage of their convictions against what seems like an insurmountable obstacle.
Jacobson doesn't hide from the Teamster's notorious reputation for organized crime influence and violent behavior. The access the Teamsters permit the director is quite amazing and certainly makes for a comprehensive and incisive film. She's even allowed to tape one man in a small meeting calling for the return to old school Teamster tactics, which would eschew any continuation of peaceful activities. But Jacobson clearly portrays Overnite as the enemy and makes a substantial case against the company to justify that claim.
American Standoff,
which has already aired on HBO, is definitely an issues oriented
documentary, but manages not to be overly heavy handed in its
delivery. Jacobson proves that cinema can still be a relevant
tool for social activism and her film's success is largely steeped
in the very palpable humanism she exudes.
(Screened at the 2002 Los Angeles Film Festival)
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