Black Bear Ranch, formed in 1968, was one of the last real communes of the hippie era, said Stephen Holden in The New York Times. Jonathan Berman's documentary gathers old home movies and interviews former members in search of an accurate picture of the commune. He doesn't quite get one, because his source material is inherently biased, but Commune is still a 'œfascinating spectacle.' Utopia, especially during the first winter, was difficult to achieve without farming skills. But Black Bear survived, even though it abandoned some of its original tenets, such as enforced free love. The former communalists look back on the camp with both affection and regret, said Andrew O'Hehir in Salon.com. Those hippies who returned to the mainstream 'œseem no better or worse than the rest of us,' except for their new survival skills. If nothing seems weird about them, it's because 'œall is bathed in a nostalgic glow,' said James Bowman in The New York Sun. What about the parents who treated their children like lab rats in this free-love experiment? Berman is far too uncritical of his subject to make a proper film about it.
Rating: Not Rated
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
The Finest Summer Flavours -
Today's political cartoons - May 20, 2024Cartoons Monday's cartoons - flags flipped, Diddy dunked, and more
-
Diddy admits to beating girlfriend after videoSpeed Read Though he previously denied allegations of abuse, Combs apologized for abusing Cassie Ventura following the release of new CCTV footage
