Gettin' my learn on with Patty Hearst

For some reason I've been on a documentary kick of late. Call it the lack of exciting new films to watch or just wanting to learn about shit I ignored as an unenlightened youth. I pick topics I know the basics about but don't know the full story. In some cases like "Waco: The Rules of Engagement" you get a whole different side of the government's story, which is always a treat.

In "Guerilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst", the director takes essentially a straight forward historical look at the events. Using archival clips and audio messages from Patty Hearst the story is essentially told by those who lived it. In a nutshell, the Symbionese Liberation Army (S.L.A.) , a group of radical political revolutionaries, kidnaps the daughter of Randolph Hearst in a Robin Hood-type extortion/ransom plot. They demand millions of dollars in food to the poor which is attempted with Katrina-like precision by the "man". Over time Patty's voice messages to her parents (and the public) become less of the hostage nature and take on a member/militant tone. Ok Ok you know the story. The main question becomes "is she or was she full of shit?". She is kidnapped, apparently locked in a closet, smokes some really good pot, starts humping one of the leaders, assists in a bank robbery, sends several "FU" messages to her folks, finally is arrested and VOILA she was brainwashed, tortured, a victim of mind control and happy to be back in her multi-million dollar skin. C'mon. I know we live in the prozac nation but please. This was about as convincing as Catherine Zeta Jones turning from tennis-club/pinky in the air drinking tea-wife to a drug dealing Don Corleone in "Traffic".

In the end, the S.L.A. members are either dead or in jail.....except for Patty. The Hearst's money (and to a degree fame) kept her from doing any real time. Sound familiar? President Carter aided in limiting her jail time and President Clinton gave her a full pardon. Why? Had that been you or I, we'd still be gingerly reaching for the soap in prison. It's funny that an organization like the S.L.A. who kidnap/recruited one of the wealthiest heiress in the US would eat shit into obscurity and make Patty Hearst famous (and not for the martyr they preferred). Patty Hearst is a relative household name whereas 95 out of 100 people couldn't tell you what S.L.A.'s initials stand for. I think Patty probably was romanced by the group because she knew she could always fall back on her daddy's dime. She went on a reckless youth binge at no cost. She had nothing to lose. If you had her parents you'd probably go ape shit too. However, when it came time to pay the piper for S.L.A.'s sins she got chickenshit. I guess her principals ended where the prison gates started.