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THE PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CHARLES R. GARRY
By Sura Wood
Hollywood Reporter
Nov 27 2007
Bottom Line: Low-budget documentary shines a light on a lesser known
hero of the Left and puts him in the context of his times.
Mill Valley Film Festival
The Free History Project
MILL VALLEY, Calif. -- Charles R. Garry, the controversial
working-class lawyer who defended '60s protestors and the Black
Panthers, is venerated in Hrag Yedalian's admiring documentary, "The
People's Advocate: The Life and Times of Charles R. Garry." A bare
bones, ragged-around-the-edges enterprise, the film is nonetheless
an illuminating portrait of a driven, deeply committed man and the
turbulent era he lived in. First-time filmmaker Yedalian, who spent
four years on this project, compiles television interviews with Garry,
archival news footage of his trials and testimonials and reminiscences
from a Who's Who of '60s radicals such as Huey P. Newton, Bobby
Seale, Angela Davis and David Hilliard as well as Garry's brothers
and assorted friends.
Garry didn't cut a particularly impressive figure or display the zeal
for self-promotion of William Kunstler. Rather he was a soft-spoken,
understated man, who looked more like a corporate vp than a tireless,
civil rights advocate for the Left and the political radical's go to
guy. The son of Armenian immigrants, Garry understood discrimination
first hand. He grew up dirt poor in Fresno, studied law at night school
and became a passionate, articulate defender of the disenfranchised
and oppressed with whom he identified.
According to the film, he was a daunting adversary in the courtroom
with a winning track record and a knack for putting the justice
system on trial. In a few instances, Yedalian is given to hyperbole
and overstates his case for how Garry revolutionized the legal system.
Garry represented Rev. Jim Jones and was present during the mass
suicide at the compound in Guyana. Although Garry escaped unharmed and
claimed that he wasn't aware of what was happening, his reputation was
irreparably tarnished by the incident. Friends say that he returned
a broken man and was never the same.
In 1991, he died of a stroke. Yedalian also includes a fascinating
interview with Jones' son that adds a chilling coda to his father's
thirst for domination and its impact on Garry's life.
The Apex Theory provides the offbeat, original score.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards _festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?JSESSI ONID=ThJ1HLKNLn1jSkbrTJvLK1ln62P2GRjpkTnJ8gdLN9Wj7 DG4QkLY!1504578851&&rid=10240
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
By Sura Wood
Hollywood Reporter
Nov 27 2007
Bottom Line: Low-budget documentary shines a light on a lesser known
hero of the Left and puts him in the context of his times.
Mill Valley Film Festival
The Free History Project
MILL VALLEY, Calif. -- Charles R. Garry, the controversial
working-class lawyer who defended '60s protestors and the Black
Panthers, is venerated in Hrag Yedalian's admiring documentary, "The
People's Advocate: The Life and Times of Charles R. Garry." A bare
bones, ragged-around-the-edges enterprise, the film is nonetheless
an illuminating portrait of a driven, deeply committed man and the
turbulent era he lived in. First-time filmmaker Yedalian, who spent
four years on this project, compiles television interviews with Garry,
archival news footage of his trials and testimonials and reminiscences
from a Who's Who of '60s radicals such as Huey P. Newton, Bobby
Seale, Angela Davis and David Hilliard as well as Garry's brothers
and assorted friends.
Garry didn't cut a particularly impressive figure or display the zeal
for self-promotion of William Kunstler. Rather he was a soft-spoken,
understated man, who looked more like a corporate vp than a tireless,
civil rights advocate for the Left and the political radical's go to
guy. The son of Armenian immigrants, Garry understood discrimination
first hand. He grew up dirt poor in Fresno, studied law at night school
and became a passionate, articulate defender of the disenfranchised
and oppressed with whom he identified.
According to the film, he was a daunting adversary in the courtroom
with a winning track record and a knack for putting the justice
system on trial. In a few instances, Yedalian is given to hyperbole
and overstates his case for how Garry revolutionized the legal system.
Garry represented Rev. Jim Jones and was present during the mass
suicide at the compound in Guyana. Although Garry escaped unharmed and
claimed that he wasn't aware of what was happening, his reputation was
irreparably tarnished by the incident. Friends say that he returned
a broken man and was never the same.
In 1991, he died of a stroke. Yedalian also includes a fascinating
interview with Jones' son that adds a chilling coda to his father's
thirst for domination and its impact on Garry's life.
The Apex Theory provides the offbeat, original score.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards _festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?JSESSI ONID=ThJ1HLKNLn1jSkbrTJvLK1ln62P2GRjpkTnJ8gdLN9Wj7 DG4QkLY!1504578851&&rid=10240
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress