Growing Up in America

The residents of Mapleview retirement home rebel against their oppressors and take the staff hostage. Their demands are simple. They want more freedom, real food, no more enemas, free love and porn. A wacky siege begins.

The title of this Canadian documentary may have some relation to Canadian Marshall McLuhan's theories. It combines interview with famous U.S. militants of the '60s, such as Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman, with reenactments of their Chicago trials (i.e., the "Chicago Eight," etc.). Other figures of cultural interest from the time, including Alan Ginsberg and Buckminster Fuller, are interviewed or featured. The filmmaker indicates his belief that powerful forces in the U.S. government worked together to suppress American radicals. This view, widely disbelieved at the time, has since been confirmed.

Two artsy/hippie couples sharing a townhouse play head-games with each other and with a pizza-delivery driver.