What Really Killed Rosebud?

Rosebud Denovo was a 19-year-old homeless woman living in Berkeley California's People's Park. A self styled anarchist, she was outraged by the city and university's plans to build volleyball courts in the park. In August 1992 she broke into the mansion of the university chancellor with the alleged intent of killing him. Despite being only five foot tall and weighing less than 100 pounds, she was shot dead by a police officer when she supposedly brandished a machete. Denovo had a history of mental illness and had been arrested for allegedly hoarding explosives in the hills near Berkeley. (This information was drawn from the Internet, which provides a more coherent summary than this video.) In Claire Burch's examination, Rosebud's friends and street people provide some background in a haphazard way, while film clips showing battles over People's Park in 1969 remind the viewer of Berkeley's history as a flashpoint of radical politics. Alas, most of the interviewees offer slogans rather than insights, no police, city, or university officials are represented, and I wondered why Rosebud's parents, who contributed home movies of her as a child, were not willing to speak to the camera. Like Rosebud in Citizen Kane, Rosebud Denovo remains a sad enigma. Despite the timely subject of wasted and trashed youth, this video is a marginal purchase at best, though some California libraries may wish to consider. (S. Rees)