A testament, at least in part, to Kunstler's long and controversial career as a lawyer-activist, defending members of minorities and unpopular causes, and changing the law and the country in the process.

| Original Score: B | Dec 31, 2010

Tries to examine and then reconcile Kunstler's legacy as a fighter for causes with his choosing to defend mobsters, terrorists, rapists and drug dealers.

| Original Score: B | Dec 24, 2010

Still worth seeing despite the co-directors' inability to understand that a great lawyer will go out of his or her way to defend people being tried and convicted in places like the NY Post.

| Dec 6, 2010

One of the most pronounced recent trends in documentary is the use of the medium as a form of public therapy.

| Original Score: 6/10 | May 1, 2010

The radical lawyers' daughters - Emily and Sarah Kunstler - provide us with an intimate if not always flattering portrait of the man The New York Times once called 'the most hated and most loved lawyer in America.'

| Original Score: 88/100 | May 1, 2010

A very moving tribute to an underappreciated hero who spent his life as a tireless defender of the defenseless.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Apr 24, 2010

Like the recent animated documentary Chicago Ten, this is a timely reminder of a era when "change" was more than just a campaign slogan. But it's also a personal portrait, with shadings.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 20, 2010

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 25, 2009

Civil rights? The American Indian Movement? The Chicago 10 trial? The Central Park rape trial? Attica prison riots? Kunstler was in the thick of all of them.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 18, 2009

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe offers a deeply personal view of a larger-than-life figure. It's a view filtered through a prism of memory and emotion, but one well worth investigating.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 10, 2009

Leading the defense in the 1969-70 trial of the Chicago Seven, William Kunstler became a radical and a celebrity, and this vivid documentary captures how those two facets of his life worked together in morally urgent and contradictory ways.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Dec 2, 2009

His daughters, Emily and Sarah Kunstler, made this timely documentary partly to celebrate their late father (he died in 1995) and partly to reiterate his fundamental beliefs.

| Nov 21, 2009

Terrific archival footage from a range of seminal civil rights events, as well as affecting narration written by Sarah Kunstler and spoken by Emily Kunstler (who also edited the film), round out this superior documentary.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 20, 2009

...an in-depth but deeply emotional chronicle of their father's fascinating life.

| Nov 20, 2009

Fails to demystify the man bearing the film's title.

Full Review | Nov 20, 2009

The film's point is clear. And for those looking for a straight answer, it's this: The bravest lawyer isn't the one who takes on the clients that allow him to feel good about himself. It's the one who takes on the clients that give us nightmares.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 20, 2009

Kunstler's accomplishments, principles and courage are all here in Disturbing the Universe. But there is something else that adds an unexpected layer of emotional complexity.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Nov 19, 2009

Other than a few tasty tidbits, like the fact that he wrote Joseph McCarthy's will while still a young family attorney, there's not much fresh news about William Kunstler in this documentary.

Full Review | Nov 19, 2009

A fond introduction to the activist lawyer by his daughters that may be more informative for their generation given that it covers little new ground.

| Original Score: 4/10 | Nov 14, 2009

A thoughtful, clear-eyed look at the life and career of Kunstler, the New York attorney who was famous, and infamous, for standing up for his liberal ideals even for clients who might have been morally objectionable.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 13, 2009