A documentary on the historian brings together actors such as Sean Penn and Don Cheadle, and musicians Jackson Browne, Eddie Vedder and Exene Cervenka, with the likes of documentary filmmaker Chris Moore and author/activist Anthony Arnove, among many other notable artists. Recent filming took place in Malibu.
By Nora Fleming / Special to the Malibu Times
Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States,” published in 1980, attempted to tell some of the underrepresented stories from history often excluded in traditional history textbooks.
The work was a representation of Zinn’s career spent working with and for Americans caught in a variety of struggles, ranging from his early days as a professor at Spelman College in Atlanta when he was involved with the Civil Rights movement to antiwar opposition both during the Vietnam War and the current war in Iraq.
Today, Zinn, author, historian and professor, is still active in lending a voice and shining a light on national struggles, and now his work, with the help of people such as documentary filmmaker Chris Moore, author/activist Anthony Arnove and actor Matt Damon, among others, is being detailed in a four-hour documentary miniseries, divided into four sections: war, race, class and gender.
The film will feature narration, stills, archived footage and interviews.
“[The film] is both a way to bring attention to Howard’s tremendous work over the years, and to introduce a larger audience to the real stories of courage and shame, which make up our history,” said Tony Berg, co-producer of the soundtrack for the film with David Baerwald. He also serves as the creative director at the Malibu Performing Arts Center, where one of the film shoots took place last Thursday.
Around 450 personally invited guests came to the several hours long filming session, where musicians such as Jackson Browne, Chris and Rich Robinson of the The Black Crowes, John Doe and Exene Cervenka, Taj Mahal and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam performed some of their own music and some classic songs for the film, many with a political theme. Lending their voices to the documentary, actors Benjamin Bratt, Sandra Oh, Don Cheadle, Casey Affleck, Sean Penn and Rosario Dawson read excerpts from historical documents and from Zinn’s book, “A People’s History.”
A camera crew caught audience reaction to the music and performances, with the crowd coming to its feet for Browne’s “Lives in the Balance,” Taj Mahal’s “Take This Hammer” and closing tracks by Vedder, who played a version of Phil Och’s “Here’s to the State of Mississippi,” updated to apply to political issues of today.
The Robinson brother performed a version of Bob Dylan’s “Only a Pawn in Their Game” and Woody Guthrie’s “Do Re Mi,” and Doe and Cervenka’s did their own “The New World,” written about the Reagan administration, but ,according to Doe, still holding true today.
The actors read from historical documents ranging from “The Declaration of Independence” to a 1832 letter from Chief Blackhawk about the United States government treatment of Native American tribes to recent letters about the war in Iraq, among many others.
“We wrote the blackest chapter on the pages of American history,” Casey Affleck read from a letter written by a private who helped execute the Trail of Tears evacuation of the Cherokee tribe across the United States.
Zinn was unable to make it to the shoot, but sent a note that was read to the audience.
“It is exciting to put art at the service of humanity. I’m proud to be a part of it,” Zinn wrote.
Another shoot for the film will take place at MPAC on June 1, with artists such as Pink and Randy Newman already signed on to perform. After June, the production team will fly to New Jersey to film Bruce Springsteen performing his song, “The Ghost of Tom Joad.”
“It’s fantastic,” said Phoebe James, an audience member at the MPAC shoot. “It’s all about people coming forward to tell the truth. We don’t get much of that these days.”