Investigation of a Flame

In 1968, nine activists went to the draft board in Catonsville, Maryland, and burnt 378 draft files to protest the Vietnam War. The film portrays the “Catonsville Nine,” a bunch of people who chose to break the law in a poetic act of civil disobedience. Interviews with the protagonists lead spectators to think of the relevance such an act would have in today’s world. How did the trial’s news and images help to galvanize a disillusioned American public? Investigation of a flame explores this politically and religiously motivated performance of the 1960's in the context of a newly militarized America.