Investigation of a Flame- The Activism of the Catonsville Nine

Streaming video - 2001

On May 17, 1968 nine Vietnam War protesters, including a nurse, an artist and three priests, walked into a Catonsville, Maryland draft board office, grabbed hundreds of selective service records and burned them with homemade napalm. “Investigation of a Flame” is an intimate, experimental documentary portrait of the Catonsville Nine, this disparate band of resisters who chose to break the law in a defiant, poetic act of civil disobedience. A series of informal, yet charged conversations with members of the group encourages viewers to ask their own questions about the relevance of such events today.. How did the photos, trial publicity and news of the harsh two year prison sentences help to galvanize a disillusioned American public? “In...vestigation of a Flame” explores this politically and religiously motivated performance of the 1960's in the context of a newly militarized America. With renowned activist priests Daniel and Philip Berrigan leading the way, this powerful, imaginative statement of protest reveals the necessity to reflect actively on our government’s wartime forays into the lives and politics of other nations. Awards: Black Maria Film Festival; San Francisco International Film Festival: New Jersey Film Festival; Ann Arbor Film Festival; First Prize Documentary Athens Film Festival. “A complex rumination on the power of protest…..the trauma of the past, the continued mistakes of the present and the necessity to reflect actively on our government’s wartime antics.” Holly Willis, The LA Weekly. “INVESTIGATION OF A FLAME is a gorgeously crafted experimental documentary recounting the odyssey of the Catonsville Nine. Investigation’s radical veneer belies the after-schoolish wholesomeness at its core, for the committed pacifism of its subjects exemplifies a venerable American tradition of nonviolent civil disobedience -- the principled breaking of imperfect human laws in adherence with higher moral ones. There’s little to add to the chorus of praise that followed MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight screening of the film, but it’s nonetheless a film to rave about, as well as reckon with.” Ionnnis Mookas, The Independent Film and Video Monthly. more