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"Blink" Review in Variety,
July 30 - Aug 5, 2001

Exceptionally insightful docu tackles a difficult subject and manages to get under the skin of a former white supremacist, now dealing with his long-inculcated rage and the consequences of bad actions. Hourlong pubcast natural, which already aired on PBS' "POV" but is getting a theatrical launch in Seattle, would flourish in some Euro markets and is a nonjudgmental starter for schoolroom discussions.

Redheaded powder keg Greg Withrow--now a longhaired martial artist with an (angry) Hispanic wife--had racism beaten into him by his twisted Midwestern father. He became a vicious leader of the Aryan Youth Movement, until he saw the light, although not before several violent episodes. Bay Area helmer Elizabeth Thompson spent more than four years following Withrow. Results mix stylish visual and audio interpretation with unusually articulate comments from the brooding ex-Nazi plus longtime acquaintances and hate-crime experts, who occasionally question Withrow's version of things but always help illuminate his mine-strewn path. Ideology aside, says one, there will always be people "who view violence as an opportunity for epic personal transformation." And some, the pic suggests, who continue to change without it.

- Ken Eisner