Freedom River

Other than the animation, which is effective but rather cheap, "Freedom River" is a timeless classic. It's a parable about freedom--and is clearly meant to imply that it's about the United States. It follows the country from a time of great freedom and success and pride to a period in which selfishness, xenophobia and ignorance end up destroying the river over time. And, ultimately, the film ends with two obvious choices--fascism or self-determination in order to either deal with this dying river or not. It's all very clever and is well worth seeing--especially today when many of the points in this animated film are extremely true. I also appreciate that although the film obviously has a strong agenda, it is done in a very palatable way and the viewer isn't smashed over the head with the message. Exceptionally well made.

Freedom River is getting more attention now than it did in 1971 when I wrote the screenplay. Here's the genesis of the film: For several years, Bosustow Productions, a small studio for which I wrote several films, had asked Orson Welles, then living in Paris, to narrate one of their films. He never responded. When I finished the Freedom River script, we sent it to him together with a portable reel to reel tape recorder and a sizable check and crossed our fingers. He was either desperate for money or (I would rather believe) something in it touched him because two weeks later we got the reel back with the narration word for word and we were on our way. Joseph C. Cavella HowToWriteComedy.com