American Anarchist

American Anarchist is a 2016 American documentary film written and directed by Charlie Siskel. The film centers on interviews with William Powell, author of the controversial 1971 book The Anarchist Cookbook.[1][2][3] The film premiered out of competition at the 73rd edition of the Venice Film Festival.

American Anarchist
Promotional poster
Directed byCharlie Siskel
Produced byCharlie Siskel
Written byCharlie Siskel
StarringWilliam Powell
Music byT. Griffin
CinematographyNina Bernfeld
Nick Foxall
Edited byChris McKinley
Production
company
Bow and Arrow Entertainment
Distributed byGravitas Ventures
Release date
  • September 2, 2016 (2016-09-02) (Venice Film Festival)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Content

The film focuses primarily on an interview between Siskel and Powell, covering topics such as Powell's early life, what led him to write The Anarchist Cookbook, its publication and initial reception, Powell's post-book career as a teacher for emotionally disturbed children, Powell's personal life with his wife Ochan and son Colin, his renunciation of the book's contents, and the incidents where the book was found among the belongings of the perpetrators, including, but not limited to, the Columbine High School massacre, the Arapahoe High School shooting, and the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting, as well as a number of assassination attempts on government officials.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an average score of 64%, based on 11 reviews.[4] On IMDb the film has a rating of 5.8/10, based on over 1,500 reviews.[5] Metacritic reports a 58 out of 100 rating based on 5 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6]

Matt Fagerholm writing a review of the film for RogerEbert.com rated the film three out of four stars.[7]

Death of William Powell

William Powell died in July 2016, aged 66, before the release of the film.[8]

References
  1. Deborah Young (September 2, 2016). "'American Anarchist': Venice Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
  2. E. Nina Rothe (September 7, 2016). "'American Anarchist' in Venice: Talking Choices and Responsibilities with Filmmaker Charlie Siskel". The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
  3. David D'Arcy (1 September 2016). "'American Anarchist': Venice Review". Screen Daily. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  4. "American Anarchist (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
  5. "American Anarchist (2016)". IMDb. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  6. "American Anarchist Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
  7. Fagerholm, Matt (March 24, 2017). "American Anarchist". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  8. Sampathkumar, Mythili (31 March 2017). "William Powell dead: Author of 'Anarchist Cookbook' dies aged 66". The Independent. New York. Retrieved 17 January 2020.


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