Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst

"What is familiar about this picture? A small group of fanatic terrorists wreak havoc on American soil..."—New York Times

Like The Weather Underground, Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst brings to life a convulsive moment in the history of American radical politics. This documentary chroniciles the 1974 kidnapping of 19-year-old heiress Patricia Hearst by armed leftists known as the Symbionese Liberation Army. Over the next 19 months, the entire country was gripped by the transformation of Hearst from an apolitical co-ed to an AK-47-toting urban warrior renamed "Tania."

Using interviews, archival footage, and astonishing, never-before-seen news outtakes of the S.L.A.'s terrorist assaults, the film was made without Hearst's participation. Even so, as Time Out notes, it "feels like the ultimate condensation of late '60s activism." (89 mins.)


support credits

Season support provided by the Rohauer Collection Foundation and the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation.

Contemporary films, international films, and visiting filmmakers presented with support from the Ohio Arts Council.