A superb documentary about MOVE and the bombing of the house on Osage Avenue in May of 1985 that led to the deaths of five children and six adults. I was only eight at the time, but I vividly remember the news showing a blazing fire across the bridge in Philly and my father being very angry at the whole situation. Especially that the city would drop a bomb on a house which they knew contained children.
I picked this up at the library and I was struck by a few things that I never noticed or realised the first time I had seen it. First was the music by Christopher Mangum. It's subtle yet extremely powerful in engaging the viewer even more in the film. It was absolutely perfect. Then there was the fact that the city of Philadelphia allowed 11 people to burn to death. I get that the people in that house were a potential threat and that they were reeking havoc on the neighbourhood (Bishop actually grew up not far from a MOVE house and said how horrible it was kept and that there was garbage everywhere), however, regardless of their actions, it is beyond inhumane to allow 11 people - FIVE of whom were children - to be burned alive. It's appalling and despicable. Also, I was reminded of that Mister Rogers quote I read recently about looking for the helpers; that helper was James Berghaier. Lastly, I thought about how when Berghaier was gonna run over to get Birdie Africa and bring him to safety that his partner, Tommy Mellor, said “I’ll cover ya.” Why would he say that? If those two men are on the line with other officers, wouldn't those officers see Berghaier go over to grab Birdie and automatically cover their fellow brother if there was a possibility that MOVE members would open fire on their comrade? Who was Mellor gonna protect Berghaier from? My thought is that the other officers might not look too kindly on a cop trying to rescue one of the people associated with MOVE. What other explanation could their be? In the end it is a brilliant documentary about one of the most shameful events in the history of Philadelphia.
This evening as I watch this film for a third time, I saw Bishop post on Instagram about the anniversary of the bomb being dropped. He mentioned checking out John Edgar Wideman's novel Philadelphia Fire. This weekend I'm gonna try to find a copy at Baldwin's. It sounds intriguing.
- Taken from two previous posts dated May 12, 2015 and August 1, 2016. -
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