American Anarchist

Released Mar 24, 2017

1h 20m

Documentary

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American Anarchist: Trailer 1

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12 Reviews

38%

Audience Score

100+ Ratings

In 1970, 19-year-old William Powell published "Anarchist Cookbook" - a manifesto and bomb-making manual that sold more than 2 million copies. The film explores the book as an inspiration for decades of violent, anti-government attacks and provides Powell with the opportunity to explore his book's troubling legacy.

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J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

[Powell] comes off as a tragic figure: a teacher haunted by his most spectacular lesson, and a man of learning who, where his own guilt was concerned, took care not to learn too much.

Apr 13, 2017

Full Review

Michael Phillips

Chicago Tribune

Siskel's movie - flawed, somewhat limited but never dull - makes Powell eat his words and then, in metaphorical terms, write the restaurant review.

Rated: 3/4

Apr 13, 2017

Full Review

Matt Fagerholm

RogerEbert.com

An intriguing film about an infuriating man.

Rated: 3/4

Mar 24, 2017

Full Review

Steven Prokopy

Third Coast Review

American Anarchist is a truly fascinating and enlightening work.

May 6, 2020

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Cathy Brennan

One Room With A View

If this had been a short documentary made by a filmmaker with some scruples, then there could have been a work worthy of its subject.

Rated: 1/5

Mar 26, 2019

Full Review

Sherilyn Connelly

SF Weekly

American Anarchist makes the interesting choice of saving Powell's difficult childhood for the end, and while it was tragic, most people with difficult childhoods didn't go on to write books about how to make bombs.

Mar 24, 2017

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Cameron J

William Powell is a really fascinating person and basically everything that involves him is the best it can be, but the interviewer is kind of a jerk. He is VERY biased and clearly had a ax to grind. Oh also this movie is really short of a subject like this. I feel like you could’ve added at least an extra 10-20 minutes and been fine.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/26/24

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Benjamin P

Overall it had a lot of interesting parts, but the filmmaker/interviewer was terrible. His obvious bias distracted from the subject and left many more important questions on the table. I can't help but wonder how much better this could have been if tackled by a different director.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

06/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

My review is has nothing to do do with the subject matter or the subjects ....the filmmaker's bias and moral high ground completely suffocate the entire film. I spent 80 minutes feeling sorry for Mr Powell and truly wish some other filmmaker had tackled this subject. He should be ashamed of himself.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I found the interviewer absolutely infuriating. He constantly ran around in circles during the film, which not only made the interview obviously confusing for Powell, but made the entire documentary miserable to sit through (despite the interesting subject matter). His blatantly accusatory nature when questioning Powell about the atrocities that readers of his book -which he pieced together angrily at 19 years old- committed was incredibly frustrating and unprofessional.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It's not a documentary to me. The director seem to have a dog in the fight and loses a lot of time in trying to lead the author to admit complicity in mass murder. Many interesting aspects could have been investigated, like "why teenage kids feel the need to blow up their school mates, is it because of a book or because we live in shitty society? "Was the Anarchist cook book common among teenager who felt to be rebels?" . The author of the book is responsible for discolising information to an audience which in some cases never even bothered to read the warning at the beginning, let alone understanding it. The information disclosed was potentially harmfull as the content of many tv series and movies nowadays, but luckily most of the people are not interested or too lazy to do anything with it, let alone a search on the internet.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

An interesting story but not that good of a document.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

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Charlie Siskel

Director

William Powell

Self

Charlie Siskel

Writer

Charlie Siskel

Producer

Nina Bernfeld

Cinematographer

Chris McKinley

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American Anarchist: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

In 1970, 19-year-old William Powell published "Anarchist Cookbook" - a manifesto and bomb-making manual that sold more than 2 million copies. The film explores the book as an inspiration for decades of violent, anti-government attacks and provides Powell with the opportunity to explore his book's troubling legacy.

Director: Charlie Siskel
Screenwriter: Charlie Siskel
Distributor: Gravitas Ventures
Production Co: Bow and Arrow Entertainment, Gravitas Ventures, Patna Pictures
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 24, 2017, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 24, 2017
Runtime: 1h 20m

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