Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst

Time has reduced the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) to barely-remembered fringe foolishness, but for a period in the early 1970s this bizarre terrorist group paralyzed America with its violence and irrational tactics. The SLA's crowning achievement was the kidnapping of heiress Patty Hearst and the subsequent reintroduction of Hearst as an SLA bank robber with the nom de guerre of Tania. But the Hearst abduction also sped the SLA's downfall: a strange ransom request that the Hearst family coordinate a multimillion-dollar food giveaway resulted in a San Francisco riot, which was clearly not the SLA's intention, and the FBI (after many failed leads) collared the SLA leadership along with their star hostage, who was subsequently tried and jailed on bank robbery charges (although Hearst later received a presidential pardon). Robert Stone's documentary does not include Hearst's input (and her absence throws the film out of kilter), but other SLA members turn up here, and Guerilla is full of rare news footage capturing the media frenzy and public agitation surrounding the SLA's brief reign of terror. In the final analysis, the SLA knew how to work the media (their last stand was a four-hour shootout with police that was broadcast on live television), but their mishmash goals of disrupting American society and resorting to violence to bridge the gap between rich and poor made them rebels with a muddled cause. DVD extras include a director's commentary, exclusive audio of Patty Hearst, and deleted scenes. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)