Colonel William A. Phillips

Mighty Ira is a 2020 documentary film by Nico Perrino, Aaron Reese, and Chris Maltby.^[1][2] The film profiles the life and career of Ira Glasser, who was executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from 1978 to 2001.^[3]

The movie focuses on Glasser's advocacy for free speech and racial justice, as well as his defense of the rights of neo-Nazis to rally in the Chicago suburb of Skokie, Illinois in the 1970s, which at the time was home to many Holocaust survivors.^[4][5] It also covers Glasser’s unlikely friendship with William F. Buckley Jr. and his upbringing as a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team.^[6][7]

Production

The idea for Mighty Ira first originated in 2017, after Perrino met Glasser in New York City at the funeral of writer and jazz critic Nat Hentoff.^[8] The film was produced by Perrino and his Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression colleagues Reese and Maltby.^[9] Perrino, a millennial, said that he helped create the film because he felt his generation didn’t understand why Glasser’s generation fought for free speech rights.^[10]

The name “Mighty Ira” comes from a line in a poem written by one of Glasser's ACLU colleagues, read at the end of the film. The title of the poem, “Ira at the Bat,” is a play on the famous “Casey at the Bat” poem by Ernest Lawrence Thayer that includes a line about “mighty Casey.”^[11]

Release

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the filmmakers decided to forgo taking Mighty Ira on the film festival circuit and instead released it through Angelika Film Center’s virtual cinema program in October 2020.^[12][13] The movie was later made available on streaming platforms, such as Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+.^[14][15]

Glasser appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience and Real Time with Bill Maher to promote the film.^[16][17]

Reception

Critical reception

Mighty Ira received generally positive reviews. The Hollywood Reporter called the movie "a warm portrait that poses ever-urgent questions,” while journalist Matt Taibbi noted that it is “elegant and thought-provoking.”^[18][19] Spiked claimed the film is “a long-overdue tribute to a civil-liberties hero.”^[20] Matt Fagerholm, writing for RogerEbert.com, gave Mighty Ira a more mixed review, awarding it 2.5 out of 4 stars.^[21]

The film attracted interest from Jewish publications, where it received favorable reviews focusing on the film's treatment of the Skokie case and Glasser's relationship with 96-year-old Holocaust survivor (and former Skokie resident) Ben Stern.^[22][23][24]

Film festivals

Mighty Ira won the grand prize at the 2021 Anthem Film Festival.^[25] It was also awarded "Best Documentary Feature Film" at the 2021 Lake Travis Film Festival.^[26]

References