Sundance 2009: "Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech" Review - Written by Mathius Mack Gertz

Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech
USA, 2008, 74min., color
Genre: Documentary
Director: Liz Garbus
Executive Producers: Sheila Nevins, Nancy Abraham
Producers: Liz Garbus, Rory Kennedy, Jed Rothstein
Coproducer/Editor: Karen K.H. Sim
Cinematographer: Tom Hurwitz
Composer: Miriam Cutler


“If large numbers of people are interested in freedom of speech, there will be freedom of speech, even if the law forbids it; if public opinion is sluggish, inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if the laws exist to protect them.”—George Orwell

Most Americans believe the First Amendment is sacred and inviolate, but not since the 1950’s has it been under such attack—from both the right and the left. In Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech, filmmaker Liz Garbus explores the current state of free speech in America as well as the fascinating historical perspective. Garbus’s father, First Amendment attorney Martin Garbus, serves as the tour-guide through this perilous landscape.

Through contemporary cases dealing with the complex issue of limits on free speech—offensive speech, school speech, wartime speech – Shouting Fire examines the balancing act between protecting both civil liberties and national security in a post-9/11 world, and asks whether all speech is equally free. These difficult questions are at the heart of what defines America and makes it unique as a republic.

Well crafted and well thought out, this timely film creates an enormous amount of tension as Liz Garbus directs us through the rocky shoals of the First Amendment. Illuminating and thought provoking, she illustrates the tenuous threads that our fledging Republic rests on in a fast moving 74 minutes. Garbus reminds us that free speech is not simply a matter of Democrats versus Republicans because it is ultimately in the province of the Courts to rule on First Amendment issues. Yet the current, largely conservative composition of the Supreme Court will hold sway over free speech issues for years to come—which is in many ways a historically unprecedented situation. This is a must see for all ages, but especially high school and college students. Four stars.