The Revolutionary

The eponymous revolutionary in this film by Ostrander, Irv Drasnin, and Don Sellers is Sidney Rittenberg (b. 1921), an American from South Carolina interested in union organizing and workers' rights, who was drafted and sent to China toward the end of World War II. Having learned Chinese prior to his stint in the army, Rittenberg after his discharge sought membership in the Communist Party, believing strongly in its ideology of peasant reform. He rose to the top but was accused of spying for the United States; Mao had him imprisoned in 1949 for six years. After his release, he worked at Radio Beijing, but disillusionment set in with the Cultural Revolution, as Rittenberg witnessed the destruction of many institutions and the death or imprisonment of innocent people; he was imprisoned again, this time for ten years. In these long interviews, Rittenberg is frank about himself and what he saw, admitting his errors and resigning himself to his difficult place in the history of China and its revolution. We see some of his private life, his return to the United States, and his wish still to do good work. The visuals, comprising archival photographs and Chinese posters of the era, are compelling; production values are high.