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The Sixth Side of the Pentagon

The Sixth Side of the Pentagon

1968

Director

Chris Marker, François Reichenbach

Runtime

28 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

Synopsis

Chris Marker and François Reichenbach document the massive anti–Vietnam War protest held in Washington, D.C., on October 21, 1967, where more than 100,000 demonstrators gathered at the Lincoln Memorial before marching on the Pentagon. Filmed amid the crowd, the short captures the tension, idealism, and growing radicalism of the American peace movement.

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Diversity & Representation

Overall Score

6.3/10

Good


Category Breakdown

LGBTQ+ Representation

Fair

The film lacks explicit on-screen identification of non-cisnormative identities. While the 1967 radical peace movement often included queer activists, the documentary does not center specific LGBTQ+ character arcs.

Gender Representation

Fair

Women appear within the protest movement, providing a visual counter-narrative to the hyper-masculine imagery of the Pentagon. However, the documentary prioritizes the collective mass over individual gendered development.

Racial & Ethnic Diversity

Good

The footage captures an intersectional coalition of protesters. It highlights people of color participating in civil disobedience, documenting a multi-racial challenge to the era's prevailing social constraints.

Religious & Cultural Diversity

Excellent

The film excels at critiquing Western institutions and deconstructing patriotic narratives. It prioritizes systemic critique and a globalist view of human rights over state-sanctioned authority.

Disability Representation

Minimal

There is insufficient evidence within the footage to determine the presence or portrayal of individuals with disabilities.

Strengths

  • Captures a diverse, intersectional coalition of protesters challenging the status quo.
  • Provides a vital critique of traditional Western institutions and state authority.
  • Replaces monolithic state narratives with a multi-vocal, radical perspective.

Areas for Improvement

  • Lacks explicit focus or identification of specific LGBTQ+ identities.
  • Prioritizes the collective mass over individual gendered or personal development.
  • Provides insufficient evidence regarding the representation of individuals with disabilities.

AI Analysis

The film functions as a powerful historical document that replaces official state narratives with a fragmented, multi-vocal reality. It succeeds by centering the collective agency of a mass movement rather than a single protagonist. By documenting the friction between individual demonstrators and the monolithic military-industrial complex, the work provides a platform for dissident voices. It effectively challenges the hegemony of the state through a lens of systemic critique. While the documentary captures a diverse coalition, it remains limited by its observational format. It focuses on the scale of the protest rather than the nuanced development of specific individual identities.

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