Berkeley
Year: 2008
Director: Bobby Roth
Stars: Nick Roth, Laura Jordan, Henry Winkler
MPAA Rating: R
Studio: Rivercoast Films
Running Time: 87 Mins
Review Rating: 3.5 Stars
Official Website: http://www.berkeleythemovie.com/
Berkeley is the film that takes place in the late 1960’s where there’s 
peace, love and harmony. The film is about a new college student (Nick Roth) who was brought up in a conservative lifestyle where his father (Henry Winkler) is overprotective. His outlook of life changes when he goes to UC Berkeley to study accounting, so that he can avoid going to Vietnam via the draft. There he is exposed to sex, drugs, rock and roll, and political activism. This film also features appearances from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morrow, Sarah Carter (Killing Zelda Sparks) and Bonnie Bedelia (Die Hard, Presumed Innocent).
Berkeley is an entertaining period piece that captures the era of the late 1960’s very well. Writer/Director Bobby Roth does a pretty good capturing the era with the protests, the music and the backdrop of the film. It helped give you a sense of what the era was like back then. Roth also does a good job with the actors here. I thought, the actors were good, as the chemistry between them made the film enjoyable. The film has a good solid lead performance from Nick Roth (son of director, Bobby Roth). He really does a good job with his character, as you wanted the character to be happy. He also handled th
e narration parts of the film very well, as it brought a sense to what the character is going through. It was nice to see a couple of old faces from past films, as both Henry Winkler (TV’s Happy Days, Scream, Click) and Bonnie Bedelia (who had a main supporting parts in Die Hard 1 & 2, and Presumed Innocent) were good additions to the film, as they both didn’t have much screen time, but they were good in their supporting roles here.
peace, love and harmony. The film is about a new college student (Nick Roth) who was brought up in a conservative lifestyle where his father (Henry Winkler) is overprotective. His outlook of life changes when he goes to UC Berkeley to study accounting, so that he can avoid going to Vietnam via the draft. There he is exposed to sex, drugs, rock and roll, and political activism. This film also features appearances from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morrow, Sarah Carter (Killing Zelda Sparks) and Bonnie Bedelia (Die Hard, Presumed Innocent).
Berkeley is an entertaining period piece that captures the era of the late 1960’s very well. Writer/Director Bobby Roth does a pretty good capturing the era with the protests, the music and the backdrop of the film. It helped give you a sense of what the era was like back then. Roth also does a good job with the actors here. I thought, the actors were good, as the chemistry between them made the film enjoyable. The film has a good solid lead performance from Nick Roth (son of director, Bobby Roth). He really does a good job with his character, as you wanted the character to be happy. He also handled th
e narration parts of the film very well, as it brought a sense to what the character is going through. It was nice to see a couple of old faces from past films, as both Henry Winkler (TV’s Happy Days, Scream, Click) and Bonnie Bedelia (who had a main supporting parts in Die Hard 1 & 2, and Presumed Innocent) were good additions to the film, as they both didn’t have much screen time, but they were good in their supporting roles here. Bobby Roth’s screenplay was good for the most part. His screenplay does a good job focusing on th
e issues that happened back in the sixty, from the Vietnam War to the students protesting on campus to the burning of draft card and the threat of communism. Some of the same issues that are in this film, were also found in Across the Universe (one of the ten best film of last year). But what made that different from Across the Universe was the fact it focuses on the issues in a mature way, which tells what that era was like. One of the screenplay’s strengths was the way it told the story through the main character. Roth does that so he can get the character’s view of the events that are unfolding throughout the film. It also helped make film enjoyable and it allowed it be told through the character, whose life is changing right before his eyes.Berkeley is very well acted film and a good look at the late sixty, where peace, love and activism ruled.
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