Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train

by Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller
Icarus / First Run Films, Brooklyn, NY, 2004
16 mm, 78 minutes, col.; English language, Documentary
Sale: $398.00; Rental: $125.00
Distributor’s Website: http://www.frif.com.

Reviewed by Amy Ione
The Diatrope Institute
Santa Rosa, CA 95406-0813

ione@diatrope.com

After watching the Democratic convention on C-SPAN, I slipped the video biography of Howard Zinn, You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train, into my player wondering how it would look after a four day-infomercial presented by the American Democratic party. Like most people who are worried about US politics today, I know Zinn’s reputation as an activist/scholar. I also remembered that as a young college student, years before the release of his popular A People’s History of the United States, I read his work when I had been drawn to take courses on topics strange to my life today, ranging from constitutional history to labor law. Having long ago put these subjects aside, I still retain some sense that we can never separate our lives from politics. This idea has become particularly pronounced in recent years, which unfortunately too often brings to mind the old saying, "If you’re not upset by the current state of affairs, you’re not paying attention."

You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train can only be described as a wonderful movie for our time and a superb biography. On a basic level Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller document the life and times of this historian, activist, and author. What sets the production off is the way they weave contemporary and rare archival materials together, interspersing interviews with Howard Zinn and the many who have worked with him over the years. Testimonials from his colleagues and friends (including Noam Chomsky, Marian Wright Edelman, Daniel Ellsberg, Tom Hayden and Alice Walker) enhanced the video greatly. Even more enlightening was seeing most of the characters in both their contemporary and historical personae. Juxtaposing the events that forged each of these individuals with Zinn’s influence and his deeply felt commitment to activism left me with a sense that many of us understand what is to be gained by speaking out against draconian measures and injustice.

In Zinn’s case, it is remarkable the way his story itself makes his many achievements so striking. In his early childhood Zinn lived in the slums of New York City, often in cold-water flats. After high school, before World War II, he worked in the shipyards and organized workers. Enlisting in the Air Force in World War II, he became a bomber. One understands how Howard Zinn metamorphosed when he recalls how the bombs he dropped were a factor in his developing his later instincts for peace. Even more striking were the segments on his time at Spelman College during the early Civil Rights Movement. One of two white professors at this black college in Atlanta, Georgia, Zinn encouraged activism among his students. He was eventually fired for doing so. His time at Boston University is better known. Here, he led students in protesting the Vietnam War, as he continues to lead them still. Although is not possible to detail all of the areas he has touched in his full life, another indication of his reach was his peace mission to Vietnam during that war, where he negotiated the return of American servicemen from the North Vietnamese.

Anyone with an interest in politics will find this video stimulating. Watching the tape right after the convention in Boston made it difficult to separate Zinn’s style of patriotism from American history, particularly since the convention was in Boston where much of the You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train was shot. The shrewd editing further encouraged me as a viewer to think about history. Watching its artistry, I found myself looking at the various protest sequences and thinking of how art speaks about war in its own fashion. Admiring the knack of the directors to join the current debates about Iraq with the legacy of Vietnam brought to mind Paul Revere, hero of the American Revolutionary War. Today, he is famous for his midnight ride, when it is said that he rode to Lexington to warn the insurgents that the British were approaching as well as his work as silversmith and a printmaker. But it is less well-known that his anti-British engravings (e.g., The Boston Massacre he engraved in 1770) were effective propaganda for the revolutionary cause during his life. Now, they serve to remind us of the degree to which art and politics can successfully merge.

Zinn’s commitment likewise speaks of the degree to which following through on one’s beliefs can make a difference. At 81 he is still vigorous and speaking out. Those who have not followed Zinn’s career will find that the video lays out his long activist history and encourages the viewer to respond in kind. Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Provincetown International Film Festival speaks to its appeal, which I would second. Indeed, it is a film worth seeing. A short trailer is available at http://www.firstrunfeatures.com/howardzinn.html. Also at this site is a list of upcoming play dates for those in the Unites States and Canada.