William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe

Don't let the fact that "William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe" is produced and directed by his daughters, Emily and Sarah Kunstler, fool you.

It's told from the perspective of daughters, yes, but daughters who never fully grasped what (and why) their father did, both before and after they were born. This film is their attempt to reconcile those questions some 15 years or so after his death, and they don't shy away from questioning their fathers actions or motives.

Kunstler was a high-profile, high-concept, and high-minded civil rights attorney who in the 1960s represented, among others, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, the Chicago 7, and Abbie Hoffman. He was a white man perpetually at the center of racial issues, and championed the cause of civil rights. He was a staunch free-speech advocate, fighting for the right to burn an American flag in protest, and he believed, as recounted by his daughters, "everyone deserves a defense."

He was also, as the film demonstrates, something of a glory hound, relishing his time in the spotlight and the attention his cases brought him.

It's clear from their comments that his daughters, while holding him in high regard, don't confuse admiration for hero worship. They openly wonder why he took on certain cases later in his career (when he focused on criminal defense), with clients like the alleged central park jogger rapists, the alleged World Trade Center bombers in the early 90s, and men accused of shooting police officers.

The angle creates something of a mystique behind the man, a wild-haired lawyer who wasn't afraid to call out cops, judges or politicians, but doesn't paint him as a saint, either (one observer notes he got a man acquitted who had gunpowder burns on his hand).

There's plenty about who Kunstler's values and beliefs in things that are larger than himself, highlighted by a story about his time in the Army in World War II, when he was stabbed in the arm by a Japanese soldier's bayonet. The soldier was killed (by one of Kunstler's platoonmates). After the war, when Kunstler was stationed in Japan, he sought out the soldier's parents and told them their son died a hero.

Ultimately this film is about ethics and about the belief in fighting the good fight, in American ideals and about doing the right thing even when it's the most unpopular thing in the world to do, and in a father imparting his life experiences onto his children, and that parents never really stop teaching us things, even years after they're gone.

"William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe" is playing an exclusice, one-night-only show at the Indianapolis Museum of Art's Toby Theater Thursday, February 18 at 7:00 p.m. The cost is $9 for the general public or $5 for IMA members, Indy Film Fest members, and students. Tickets can be purchased online in advance at ima.org and at the door.