Lilith

Here we have Warren Beatty, Kim Hunter, Peter Fonda, and Jean Seberg in a story about a young man who comes to work in a nuthouse for very rich nuts. He is unaware of how manipulative crazy people can be, and falls for Seberg in a big way. You can tell it is going to end in grief. This movie was ground-breaking in some ways, addressing mental illness and even hinting at lesbianism. But it seems dated to me now. All the acting is good, particularly Fonda as a rather prissy young man who is also attracted to Seberg but has no idea of how to go about courting her. The B&W photography is very nice, with many images centering on water.

I have to say something about the horrendous story of Jean Seberg. She was put under surveillance by Hoover’s FBI for years. Not only that, she was harassed, stalked, her house was broken into and her phone was tapped. Nixon’s gang of thugs (Ehrlichman, Mitchell, Kleindienst, and of course Tricky Dick himself, all dead now, all burning in Hell) got frequent reports on her activities. And what was her great crime? Why, she gave a few thousand dollars to the Black Panther Party, and was alleged to have interracial affairs. Clearly un-American, wouldn’t you agree?

They spread a deliberate lie that the baby she was carrying was half black, which stressed her so badly that she gave birth prematurely …to a white girl. She buried the child in open casket ceremony, so the news sources who printed the story (shame on you, Newsweek, and Los Angeles Times) could see for themselves. But the FBI didn’t let up on her, and basically drove her to suicide—and may even have given her some help. J. Edgar Hoover was the worst traitor to this countries ideals who ever lived. Just go to Wiki and read the awful details. Sometimes I’m deeply ashamed of my country.