Commune (2005) User Reviews

Fascinating...and a little bit scary

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 14 August 2008]

This is a documentary about one of the many communes that began in the late 60-early 70s and is one of the few to survive to this day. Like most, it began with a group of idealistic hippies who wanted to change the world and redefine society and norms. In some ways, by the time the film ends, so many of these idealists are, in a sense, "the man"--having abandoned the commune as well as some or many of their ideals. People who were all in favor of "free love" and no possessions now were married and had real jobs and real homes--though a few stuck with the commune to the time the documentary was made.

While all this was rather fascinating, at times it also felt a bit scary. On one hand, much of what these people did wasn't morally right or wrong--just very different. However, some of their behaviors as the commune continued through the years really made me feel very uncomfortable. At first, running around naked, making love with practically everyone and having few cares sounded all well and good, but as a result of all this, lots of children were born and they were raised, in many ways, like miniature adults. Children, it seemed, were able to make adult decisions as their parents felt it was too confining and bourgeois to inhibit them in any way. This plus the constant in and outflow of members (including a creepy cult that "worshipped kids") made me wonder whether sexual abuse was rife in this environment. While none of this was addressed in the film (a very odd omission, by the way), it did interview many of these kids. Some seemed happy and well adjusted and others seemed rather angry about this permissive environment--though, unexpectedly, they also seemed reasonably well adjusted--at least on film. Still, it was a very interesting film about a part of America that is very seldom talked about.

As for me, with my background psychology and sociology, I found that the film was also very frustrating for me personally. I would LOVE to see a followup film that explores the emotional and psychological implications of communal living--not only the dangers but the potential benefits. I sure know that with my rather straight-laced and traditional life it isn't something I want for myself, but I'd like to see just how it effected everyone (not just the ones interviewed in the film)--sort of like a giant psychosocial experiment. After all, while this is in some ways a great system, over time they almost always fail or fade in popularity--why and how could they be run more successfully are questions that come to mind.

FYI--not surprisingly, this film contains a lot of explicit nudity. It isn't sexy or prurient, but parents might want to think it over before letting younger viewers see it.

Beautiful, idealistic, and self-absorbed is no way to go through life--or is it?

[praesagitio · 8/10 · 8 December 2007]

This is a sympathetic portrait of the Black Bear commune, and you'll come away thinking that the founding members were incredibly lucky--not so much for living the free love communal lifestyle as for not being injured in the mix of idealistic self-absorption and do-it-yourself medical treatments (including midwifery) that characterized life there.

It's clear from the affection with which the founding members talk of each other that it was overall a great time for them, and there's obviously a strong bond that unites them still. Some left the commune to form nuclear families, get jobs, and educate their children.

What's frightening, though, is the stunning level of self-absorption that makes a few of the members fail to think at all about how these principles affected their children. "We were like our own tribe," recalls one boy (Aaron Marley), who ran through the trails and woods with the other kids and later got a crew cut to rebel. I guess there are no snakes or poison oak in the California woods. He later is handed off to a foster family in the commune when his mother went off to paint and find herself; when he wanted to live with a Native American woman nearby, his mother came back, called on his father (who was elsewhere), made a big stink, and got him back on the commune--though not, apparently, with her. So much for the "children have choices" idea.

In another story, though, a child is given a choice, and it's scary. Tesilya's story is the most frightening, and it's a good thing that she tells it so that the audience can see that she's alive and thriving as an editor today. The Shiva Lila cult, which supposedly "worships children," comes to the commune and starts to take it over. When the commune members drive them away, Tesilya is asked to choose and decides to go with her mother. She's FIVE! What would you do? As the cult wanders to the Philippines and India, working all the time on its stated mission of breaking parental bonds, her mother drifts away at some point and Tesilya's left with a bunch of other children, many of whom die of diphtheria (freedom from DPT shots must have been part of the freedoms of the commune). Eventually the cult makes its way to Oregon, and by chance she meets up with some of the Black Bear commune people, who welcome her with "We have been waiting for you. Where have you been?" Uh, she's maybe 10 at this point? (The film doesn't say.) "Glad to have you join us, or whatever." She obviously gets an education somehow, but as Aaron, the boy who later becomes a biochemist, says, "We (children) were pretty much lab rats for the adults" and their ideals.

One of the former cult members is quoted as saying something like "Wanting to save the world can be a huge ego trip." This film presents it all--the love and the self-absorption and the ego-tripping--and lets you make up your own mind.

Yes, it is sympathetic but it still parodies itself

[expertprogram · 8/10 · 10 July 2007]

As a previous reviewer noted, this was a sympathetic profile of the history of the ranch. It was also honest enough to make clear what a bunch of idiots these people were. It all starts off idyllic enough. Free love and dope in a mountain paradise. Even then these people appeared to have no sense. Early footage shows completely nude men tending hot coals with shovels. OK, I get the whole "God made us and we are not ashamed of our bodies" thing, but hot coals people?

Early on, there was a rule (rules? for 'free' people?) that you couldn't sleep with the same person more than 2 nights in a row. This was because coupling was bourgeois. Then they had interview clips of various of the men from that time that essentially said that random sex became unsatisfying. When jealousy became a problem, they decided to couple up after all.

Next, the kids came. It turns out that if you have an infant that wakes up fussy at 6 am, people drinking and playing music until 4 am becomes, in actor Peter Coyote's words, "wino tom-toms".

One kid "rebels" by getting a crew cut in imitation of the children of loggers in the area. Later, his mother leaves him with some of the other people so she can go off to a city to pursue art. The kid begs to be allowed to live with a local family. And the 'foster parents' let him. She hears about it and returns bringing the child's father (who was somewhere else entirely) and complains to the 'foster family' that they shouldn't have abandoned him.

The early home movie scenes have everyone nude or mostly nude all the time. This includes adults, young children, and pubescent children. As the pictures progress in time, the kids are suddenly all fully clothed. This is not explained, but one has to wonder if either they were visited by social workers or had trouble with sexual predators, or both. Perhaps someone's penis was burned.

The boy who wanted live like normal people he saw, noted in a recent interview, that the adults seemed to be more concerned about consciously making a statement about how they lived than about paying attention to the kids.

A cult comes to live there for a time but is forced to leave by current and previous communists because they are not "free enough'. When they go, the whole group lets children as young as five decide whether to stay or go with the cult, irrespective of where their parents go. The cult moves on to the Phillipines and the India with their own and some of the children of the Bleack Bear communists. In India, although no number is given, a large number of the children die of dysentery (or some other enteric disease). An adult survivor who returned from India via Canada (or Mexico, she's not sure) describes how her mother and other communists had to woo her away from the cult at age 12. She went on to live with her natural father (whom she had never met) and his family, describing this as approvingly "returning to American culture".

Most of the original founders move away to find towns with schools for their kids. The adults get jobs and seem to live more or less conventional American lives.

The video is sympathetic but if these people set out to find a better way of living than the one they left behind, their actions show that they proved themselves wrong. They affirmed, through statements and outcomes, the advantages of: monogamy, clothes, cities, schools, noise ordinances, parental responsibility for children, and 'civilized' life in general, among other things.

The makers of this documentary did a good job of showing the bad as well as the good.

Intelligent, even handed look at life in a 60s/70s commune

[runamokprods · 7/10 · 29 June 2012]

Interesting, insightful look at the Black Bear Ranch Commune, one of the many alternative living situations people explored in the late 60s and early 70s.

By interviewing a diverse number of members, it gives what feels like a pretty accurate non- biased view of both the strengths and weaknesses, intelligence and stupidity, bravery and cowardice, generosity and selfishness, openness and didacticism that went into this rag tag bunch trying to show the world there was another way to live then simply as 'consumers' or 'employees'.

Actor Peter Coyote, who was a member, is particularly articulate about the goals, the successes and the failures. The film also has a sense of humor, which helps. Not a life changing documentary, but certainly an interesting one.

a group of people discover why civilization was invented

[vincent-27 · 6/10 · 4 September 2012]

I am not a hippie, but I have a keen interest in the concepts of the 60s and what works and what doesn't. One of the 60s concepts was the commune, where like minded people could live completely "Free", albeit in a very primitive state. It's almost like a living experiment to discover why modern civilization was invented, as in government, marriage, medicine, agriculture etc. There is a reason why we don't live that way any more, because it sucks! Many of the stories are heart breaking, especially the children who are asked to make very adult decisions at very young ages. As much as these people tried, you cannot escape discipline, responsibility and deligence.

The first accurate film portrayal of the 1960s counter-culture

[kozure-okami · 10/10 · 17 March 2006]

This is the first, and as far as I can tell, the only documentary portrayal of the 1960s counter-culture as it actually existed. It is a sympathetic portrayal, completely devoid of the usual condescension, contempt, and hindsight revisionism.

This is not a film about clothes or rock music. It is a film about people of serious intent who were willing to go the distance and who devoted their lives to one another in a large family of their own making. "Commune" is an important American historical document and must be seen by anyone wishing to understand what on earth was going on in this country during the late 1960s to mid-1970s.

Sounds fascinating; unfortunately I'll never know

[onewally · 1/10 · 2 November 2009]

The comments for Commune make it sound like a very interesting film, one that I would be deeply interested in. Unfortunately, the producers didn't see fit to include closed captions for the hearing impaired and deaf. That leaves me and countless others like me, who depend on closed captions to follow a movie, completely out.

This is inexcusable for any film produced in the year 2005. In a world where all manner of handicaps and disabilities are accommodated, it's infuriating and ironic that the ever sanctimonious entertainment industry fails to demand that all productions and movie theaters be closed captioned.

Interesting Portrait of a Particular Place and Time

[darienwerfhorst · 8/10 · 19 July 2007]

This movie did a good job of illustrating a particular place and time in American history.

A bunch of hippies beg some money from some Hollywood types, including apparently James Coburn, and go off to Northern California to begin their alternative lifestyle utopia.

The first winter is harsh and tests them. The reality of hard work sets in. The reality of relationships and kids sets in, and yet they try to stick to their principles of free love, no possessions, and anti-establishment living.

It's easy to make fun of these folks now, but as Peter Coyote says, you can't imagine that kind of idealism that people had back then, that they could create a whole new society. They were trying something new and experimental.

It's fun to watch them try, and sometimes fail. The women begin to emerge out of the show of the men and take some control over the ranch. The reality of raising kids with no schools, and without one committed partner often falls by the wayside. The kid rebels by getting a crew cut. Adults rebel by only sleeping with one partner.

It is, as another reviewer pointed out, a portrait of a time when people thought that anything was possible, and tried to create a new society. That they ultimately may not have succeeded is less important than the journey they took.

Not a Documentary...more like a home movie.

[extremecraigfan · 1/10 · 6 May 2017]

This could have been great. It could have educated us all on this little known subject of communes and the true hippies of the day. All the elements were there for making a great documentary...many people are still alive and willing to to be interviewed...film makers were fortunate enough to have film clips from the past...the commune still exists etc.

BUT Instead of taking all that was in their possession and making a great documentary they came up with a chopped up mess of what appeared more like a home movie. Very difficult to follow. Because I was so interested in the subject I re-ran the film several times but to no avail...there just isn't any substance, any direction...

The problem obviously lies in not only the present day filming but in the editing. Too bad...maybe someone will give the subject another try in the future.

Incisive look at life in a hippie Commune.

[sonya90028 · 10/10 · 4 January 2010]

Actor and former 60s activist Peter Coyote, narrates this documentary about the Black Bear commune. Black Bear is located in the rugged rural environment, of Northern California. During the 60s and early 70s, several hippies got funding from Hollywood celebrities (including actor James Coburn), to finance the creation of the Black Bear commune. Back then, Hollywood types thought it was chic to become involved with the counterculture.

Those who were members of Black Bear, gave honest accounts of the joys, and also the very real problems, of living in a commune. Their devotion to their progressive ideals, inspired them to make a go at forming Black Bear. Keeping the commune together though, ultimately proved more difficult than they expected. They had to contend with serious issues regarding basic survival, sharing childrearing responsibilities, and how best to express their sexuality, without causing jealousy and alienation amongst themselves. Members came and went to Black Bear over the years. Despite all of the upheaval and changes, the Black Bear commune still exists now. That's pretty amazing. Especially considering how unsympathetic society has become these days, to the hippie values that spawned the Black Bear commune.

This film takes a look back, at when hippies were the avant guard of progressive politics in society. It sheds light on an important era in American history, that many people would like to know more about. So Commune is a very relevant documentary, for those that have an interest in the socio-political changes, that occurred during the 60s and early 70s.

Without Boundaries

[dbrayshaw · 2/10 · 7 July 2014]

I just watched this documentary and found it to be against what I consider to be right living. Basically, all the people were/are lost. They really hadn't found a thing except the great need for boundaries within all areas of life.

Real freedom MUST be coupled with virtue and it is not virtuous to have intercourse with whomever or to allow one's child to go and do as he/she pleases, even to leave the family for far off lands with strangers.

These people found no absolute truths. They live(d) without accountability to God, refuse(d) His ways --if they knew them at all, were without a moral standard, knew nothing of real love which includes a desire to depart from sin, and entirely void of the concept of eternity.

There is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof is the way of death. Pleasure that is the broadest doorway into a separation from God.