American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs

Synopsis

Filmmaker Grace Lee tracks the evolving beliefs and activism of philosopher Grace Lee Boggs.

Release

American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs premiered at the 2013 Los Angeles Film Festival. It received a limited theatrical release in Los Angeles on June 20, 2014, and aired on the PBS series POV on June 30, 2014.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 83% of six reviewers gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 7/10. Metacritic rated it 78/100 based on four reviews. Justin Chang of Variety called it a "lively and intelligent documentary" that is "spryly paced and deftly assembled". Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "In an era in which social activism is far too often derided, American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs represents a deeply moving examination of the power of a single individual to affect change." Inkoo Kang of the Los Angeles Times described it as a "superb documentary" that is "admirably frank about the difficulties of insightfully portraying such a widely lauded — and subtly cagey and habitually self-effacing — figure." Nicolas Rapold of The New York Times writes, "Ms. Lee could have delved more deeply into Ms. Boggs's thoughts, and slips into glib autopilot by using archival footage with sound effects or repeating ideas of personal transformation. But in sharing her subject's life achievements, she raises meaningful questions and keeps them profitably open."

It won the Audience Award at Los Angeles Film Festival and Best Documentary at the Woodstock Film Festival.