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Late Breaking News (2004)
Director:
Jon Knoll
Genre:
Documentary
Studio:
Independent
For more information, head to Siskel Center.
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"Late Breaking News" plays at the Siskel Center from March 26 to April 1st, with the director appearing in person on the 26th and 28th evening shows.
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"You can see where it kind of broke away in some spots. There were college age kids strewn all about the alley here.
The fire department eventually brought in 15 ambulances. They ended up shuttling back and forth to the hospitals with those ambulances. Right now, there's 12 dead and upwards of about 22 or so that are still injured."
- Excerpt of CNN Interview with Ken Herzlich, first on the scene to record the Linoln Park porch collapse
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Ken Herzlich is a freelance news videographer, and a successful one at that.
He cruises the streets of Chicago late at night, capturing the type of news moments that the major networks are unlikely to have dedicated staff willing and awake enough to capture on tape. His work shows up on stations all over the city and, on a good night, all over the world.
“Late Breaking News” from Chicago director Jon Knoll, profiles Herzlich’s story, including highlights from hours of the freelancer’s live video footage of key local events.
At times the footage is remarkably disturbing, as when Herzlich films a raging housefire with a blind woman screaming for help as she faces a burning death. Also disturbing is footage from the E2 disaster, when crushed bodies are pulled from the nightclub and chaos engulfs the scene. Another scene pictures a man saving himself from certain death while jumping from a burning building by using some interesting staggered clasping techniques.
Kudos to Knoll for locating such a fascinating subject, as both the surreal after-hours life of Herzlich and the side of the city that really only a dedicated after-hours wanderer could know provide for a fascinating viewing.
The viewer is constantly faced with the question of when watching is wrong and when the reporter should put down the camera and help. In that vein, Herzlich films a Chicago street on a treacherously icy night and continues to film as car after car continues to smash into each other after sliding on a black iced bridge.
I couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t immediately call the police or go wave his hands to warn people or just (for Christ sakes) do something other than watching. As the footage is picked up by an increasingly large number of network affiliates worldwide (including a bizarre Japanese TV series), the commercial advantages of letting disaster go on become increasingly clear.
“Late Breaking News” is a fascinating look at a little known segment of Chicago posing some interesting questions about what it means to watch. Highly recommended viewing.
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Written by Richard Sharp
Review Date: March 26, 2004
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