Investigation of a Flame (2002)

On May 17, 1968, nine Vietnam War protesters, led by Daniel and Philip Berrigan, entered a draft board office in Catonsville, Maryland. They seized hundreds of selective service records and burned them using homemade napalm. *Investigation of a Flame* is an intimate documentary that examines the Catonsville Nine – a diverse group who deliberately broke the law through a powerful act of civil disobedience. The film explores how the resulting photographs, trial publicity, and their two-year prison sentences resonated with a disillusioned American public. It considers this politically and religiously driven event of the 1960s within the context of contemporary actions by those opposing Middle East peace, abortion, and technology who employ violence to gain public attention.