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Inspired by a
nonfiction book by author James Ridgeway, this 1991 documentary--largely shot at a woodsy retreat in Michigan--focuses on a day in the collective life of American neo-Nazis, racists, and conspiracy nuts awaiting all people of color to ignite Armageddon in the United States. Ridgeway (credited as one of the film's directors) teams with filmmakers Anne Bohlen and Kevin Rafferty to take an intentionally leisurely, conversational tack with supremacists who have assembled for lectures and workshops on everything from getting their message out via home videos to moving all like-minded "white Christians" to the Northwest. Michael Moore (
Roger and Me), barely containing his bemusement, helps out with interviews that seem evenly divided between young people in various forms of Nazi garb and older people who look emotionally exhausted from a lifetime of suspicion and hatred. Clips from the public careers of more prominent racists such as David Duke and George Lincoln Rockwell are a part of this film, too, but what's most interesting about
Blood in the Face is the way those doomstruck souls huddling in the Michigan countryside appear far more pathetic than scary.
--Tom Keogh
