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

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

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

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 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

A refresher course on the history of American left-wing politics in the 1960s and '70s.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 13, 2009

It is said that everyone either loved or hated radical defense lawyer William Kunstler. A documentary by his daughters asks, "Why choose 'or' instead of 'both'?"

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 13, 2009

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe is indeed about the radical-leftist attorney. But this engrossing and provocative documentary is also about a tragic kind of liberal guilt.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 12, 2009

The major flaw with William Kunstler: Disturbing The Universe is that it isn't more personal.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Nov 12, 2009

The film slowly loses the sobering toughness of its initial inquiry, and finally comes off as bloodline-biased hagiography.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 11, 2009

His oft-spoken use of Michelangelo's David as a personal symbol of the individual's decision to bring "power to the people" gives better insight into this jurist's fiery heart than any case study.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 8, 2009