Though Morgen didn’t show up as billed in the AFF program, his film of the events leading up to and following the riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago stood in well for him; and the appearance of Paul Krassner at the end of the movie for the audience discussion was the “acid tab” that “enhanced the experience.”

As Krassner pointed out, Morgan was born after the events depicted in his clever amalgam of archival footage and animation—it sounds awful but it works—and so his selection of history has the benefit of an uninvolved perspective. As Krassner recounted it, the scenes he was invited to write included ones that made the cutting room floor because of their inclusion of LSD use. The film wisely focused on the more central issue of the protests and did it better without the “enhancement” of the LSD sideshow.

The movie showcases the street theatre that was the Yippies’ forte as it played against rigid reactions of the Mayor and the police force. Very little is shown of the convention itself and the political context is minimal. 1968 was a year that saw Lyndon Johnson’s retirement from politics after “Clean Gene” McCarthy’s kids scored in New Hampshire, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, and then Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. Without Johnson, his vice president Hubert Humphrey took the nomination and ran against a resurgent Richard (you won’t have me to kick around anymore) Nixon, and lost because of disaffection with a “Democratic war.” We see none of that except in the barest snippets early in the film.

Like Emilio Estevez’ “Bobby,” this is a memory piece for those of us who remember and probably knew history. For younger audiences. Chicago 10 does both. It’s worth a theatre ticket.