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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f5WFc0lS-k Hacks (1997) Dir. Christine Bader "You can find out about everything except what's important to you." Turn On, Log In and Drop Out cause we're going back to the 1990s, when computer hacking was still the domain of underground cypherpunks and anarchists who would crack codes and break systems in the pursuit of an information utopia, instead of just turning your baby monitor into a Bitcoin mining rig. Hacks is a little-seen documentary by Austrian artist Christine Bader, who travels throughout Europe and America to document the hacking scene and explore the ideologies and philosophies driving them. Bader profiles a number of individuals and groups including the Chaos Computer Club, today an iconic group in hacking history, but also stretches the definition of what constitutes hacking beyond computers to include Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson, a radical environmentalist whom Bader believes exemplifies the mindset of those who want to disrupt daily life and use unconventional means to break through the coding of social complacency. This is a film about systems and those who reject them, about pirates on the frontier of a technological revolution. In some cases its a somber look at naive idealism for what information technology could have been instead of the miserable landscape of corporate monopolies that dominate the internet today. There's also comedy, such as a funeral held for the hacking community's dearly departed colleague Bill Gates, as well as some truly off the wall interviews with various fringe figures. The film is a rarity and to my knowledge not currently available on home media. I'm not quite sure how it was initially distributed or where it may have been screened. However, there is thankfully a viewable copy on YouTube. At a brisk 73 minutes it is well worth the watch! Further Reading: Mute: Hacks (An Interview with Christine Bader) (2004) Hacks at Anarchivism (updated 2015) Previous Movies of the Month
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Feb 4, 2021 22:08
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| # ? May 9, 2024 17:30 |
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Sounds interesting. Will definitely check it out, thanks!
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Feb 8, 2021 05:06
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Just watched this. It's kinda all over the place thematically. I guess you could say the common thread is using subversive means to bring people together and impact culture, but even that's a bit more on the nose than the film depicts. Some of the segments were interesting (the "I've rammed more ships than the Canadian military" guy cracked me up), but others were kinda dull and meandering. It's definitely an historical oddity.
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Feb 14, 2021 19:40
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I had many of the same observations but felt more engrossed by them because they simply don't make documentaries this way anymore. Definitely feels like they had material for 6 hours that they cut to get released, but it is funny to go back and see talking heads docs where the talking heads talked without fake Errol Morris shallow focus montage production.
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Feb 14, 2021 23:55
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I would have loved a whole documentary focussed on the social-hackers, or the Chaos cafe. There are so many fascinating idiosyncratic characters within those scenes, I would have loved to step into their home lives and see who those people were.
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Feb 15, 2021 05:41
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Yeah I agree most of these subjects could have been whole films on their own. But there’s a somewhat punk element to the filmmaking that I really admire and fits into the ethos of the subject matter as well. Agree with HUNDU, it’s kind of refreshing to watch a documentary about a counterculture that isn’t overproduced and slick.
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Feb 15, 2021 15:33
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