Using his skills as a carpenter, he traveled to Mississippi during the Freedom Summer in 1964 to construct a community center. Danger dogged him at every turn; his car was blown up the night he arrived, the house he was staying in was riddled with a thousand bullets, but he stayed with his work.
And he built homes, again, in Nicaragua, in the poor rural communities -- 30 houses altogether, including the roads and bridges to reach them. Osheroff was a vocal opponent of the war in Vietnam, and continued his activism up until the end of his life at the age of 92, speaking out against the Iraq War.
More than seven decades of Osheroff's political organizing are brought to life by this captivating documentary. Haunting music by David Brunn, and skillful use of news footage, some culled from Abe's own earlier award-winning film Dreams and Nightmares, bring a dramatic focus to the narrative. We listen to Osheroff in conversation with the great Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano and listen to poet Martin Espada read his tribute to Osheroff. But mostly what we hear is Abe -- authentic, irreverent and always challenging complicity in the face of injustice and inequality.
Much as One Foot in the Grave is the story of Osheroff's life, it's also a probing and unflinching look at the philosophy behind that life -- a philosophy that demands peace instead of war, human cooperation instead of exploitation. Old though he was, Osheroff refused to live in the past. Year after year, he spoke at college campuses and high schools, as he worried with and for his young audiences about our nation's misdirections. He told students that history is made through organized anger, that dissent brings growth, and, my favorite, that solidarity is love in action.
Abe Osheroff died in April 2008. But because of the dancing beat of his courage and refusal to compromise with injustice, through this poignant documentary he will be heard by new generations. As Osheroff hoped, all that mattered to him will remain fully alive.
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Abe Osheroff: One Foot in the Grave, the Other Still Dancing is distributed by the Media Education Foundation.
http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=141
For more information on Osheroff and the film, contact producer Robert Jensen, rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu.
The transcript of an extended interview Jensen conducted with Osheroff is online at http://thirdcoastactivist.org/osheroff.html, and a print version of that interview in pamphlet form also is available.
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