Commune

"Peace and love are only half the story."

Jul 26 2005 Not Rated 1h 18m
Documentary

In 1968, Elsa and Richard Marley founded an alternative-living community, named Black Bear, in the remote Northern California wilderness with the motto "Free Land for Free People." This film tells the story of that intended utopia. Through archival footage and interviews with former residents, director Jonathan Berman explores the problems and realities of communal living and the evolution of a community that endured FBI harassment, cult leadership and more.

Plot

In the late 1960s, a few free thinkers cobbled together donations, primarily from Hollywood, to buy 80 acres at the end of a dirt road in Siskiyou County, California: Big Bear Ranch, a commune with the motto "free land for free people." Archival footage, photographs, documents and news articles, and interviews with people who lived or still live there tell the commune's history: the cold first winter, women and men doing the same work, communal decision making, emerging environmental politics, free love and family formation, child rearing and memories of growing up there, a late 70's crisis with a cult-like group that moved in, and assessment by those grown old of what Big Bear meant.

Written by

Jonathan Berman

Directed by

Jonathan Berman

Cast

Mahaj Seeger, Peter Coyote, Cedar Seeger

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

United States of America

Languages

English

Awards

N/A

Scores
# of Votes
432
Average Rating
6.6 out of 10
Metascore
74
Popularity
NA