Category Archives: Documentary

Coming to PBS’s American Experience next Tuesday, January 28:
THE POISON SQUAD

Director:
John Maggio

World Premiere:
American Experience (February 2020)

About:
A government chemist goes on a crusade to eliminate untested chemicals from American foods.

In the late 1800s, as the population of American cities grew as people left farms for factory jobs, food manufacturers turned to new chemicals to preserve food for longer periods to face this societal shift. This meant that substances like formaldehyde, borax, salicylic acid, and copper sulfate became prevalent in American diets, threatening the health of the nation. US Department of Agriculture chemist Harvey Wiley had grave concerns about these unregulated, untested chemicals and launched a very public campaign to bring attention to his fears. He recruited a dozen anonymous men to participate in hygienic table trials – dubbed the Poison Squad by the press – in which Wiley would systematically increasingly poison their food over the course of a year to test the effects of additives. Director John Maggio’s informative film, which follows in the standard PBS format, is less about the Poison Squad than it is about Wiley, and how his efforts, combined with public outrage over Upton Sinclair’s THE JUNGLE, resulted in legislation to better monitor food, including the formation of the FDA,

Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens next Monday, January 27:
THE FIRST RAINBOW COALITION

Director:
Ray Santisteban

World Premiere:
Chicago 2019

Select Festivals:
Vermont, Global Peace

About:
The story of a pioneering but little-known multi-ethnic coalition of activists.

In the watershed year of 1969, Chicago was one of America’s most segregated cities, with different areas understood to be the exclusive domain of specific demographics, and, in the poorer neighborhoods, gangs or other organizations arising to protect their turf. The one thing that united rival groups like the Latinx Young Lords, the African American Black Panthers, and the self-described white rednecks called the Young Patriots was class disparity and what came with it – lower quality housing, education, and health care – as well as poor treatment from law enforcement. Finding a common cause, they set aside their petty rivalries and joined forces, adopting a multi-hued striped flag as a diverse symbol, and becoming political activists – a development that didn’t sit well with the FBI, the Chicago police, or Mayor Richard Daley, who targeted their Rainbow Coalition as extremists, leading to the death of Panther leader Fred Hampton. Ray Santisteban draws from participants in this forward-thinking coalition members as well as archival footage to offer a primer on this fascinating history, but the film’s too-short length limits its fuller impact.