Bridging the gap between underground agit-prop and creative independent cinema (as well as blurring the line between drama and mockumentary), Ice is set in an unspecified time in the early '70s, when the United States has become involved in an unpopular war against Mexico (a clear analogy to the Vietnam war) and the Federal Government has stepped up internal security at the expense of individual freedoms. A handful of radical left-wing organizations have formed a loose alliance with the shared goal of bringing down the State and launching a guerilla revolution in America. Rather than mapping out the full game plan of the radicals, or detailing their full grievances against the federal government, Ice instead focuses on the nuts and bolts of the political underground -- strategy meetings, smuggling fugitive radicals from city to city, establishing safe houses, obtaining data on police and military activities, staging violent actions, trying to encompass the goals of a number of disparate groups in a united front, activists demanding their parents take care of wounded comrades, and weary organizers easing their tensions with drugs, alcohol, or sex. Written and directed by political filmmaker Robert Kramer, a founder of the leftist film collective Newsreel, Ice was shot on a budget of only 12,000 dollars (most of which came from a grant from the American Film Institute), and features a primarily non-professional cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Robert Kramer's little-seen meditation on the radical leftist underground of the late '60s and early '70s is one of the few films that offers a reasonably clear look at the real face of potential revolution -- while the subject of growing political discontent among young America was (for a time) a popular subject for filmmakers in the wake of Easy Rider, with the exception of Medium Cool, Ice is one of the few films about the left of this era to bear the ring of truth (and it's surely significant that such a film was made far outside the confines of the studio system). Shot in 16 mm black-and-white in a style that deliberately recalls cinéma vérité, Ice is less a polemic than a warts-and-all account of the people willing to utilize any means necessary to confront a repressive political regime, and while there's little doubt where Kramer's own political sympathies lie, this is a movie with precious few heroes. While Kramer's movement leaders are idealistic, they're also demanding, often show little patience for others, and have a hard time coming to a clear consensus on the issues they address, and the foot soldiers in the secret army range from the passionate and articulate to people so delusional they'd be a menace to any cause they adopted. And though Ice has a few welcome flashes of humor and several imaginative consciousness-raising sequences, for the most part this is a document of the simple hard work of toppling the state, with much physical and emotional labor expanded in the service of a cause many involved don't believe will be won in their lifetime. While The Big Chill told the tale of a handful of minor-league political activists given to self-pity over their failed idealism 15 years down the road, Ice is the compelling (and sometimes disturbing) story of people who have chosen, very literally, to live or die for their beliefs. While it's sometimes slow, talky, and certainly not for all tastes, Ice is a compelling and realistic look at politics along the margins, and it deserves to be seen. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
