Reds

Year: 1981

Grade: C+

Country: USA

Director: Beatty

Review

truly an epic film. tells the story of john reed and louise bryant, two communist revolutionaries living in the u.s. in the 1910s. it feels a lot like many other biopics and period/history films, especially those that deal with revolutionaries and artists. one interesting wrinkle with this one is that beatty weaves in documentary interviews with people who knew reed and/or bryant.

oddly, much of the film feels as though it takes place in the 60s, not the 10s. of course it could very well take place any time because many of the issues are as salient today as they were in the teens. overall the film was too long (194 mins) and heavy to do it for me.