HERE AND NOW

By Jim Beckerman for The Record - New Jersey Arts

Back in September 2000, when documentary filmmaker Michael Bober re-created the 1804 Aaron Burr-Alexander Hamilton duel in Weehawken, the Manhattan skyline was dominated by a towering monument to Hamilton's capitalist vision.

In his film "Favorite Son," Bober stressed that connection by filming his costumed actors, anachronistically, against the backdrop of the World Trade Center. "That was very deliberate," he says. Then, after Sept. 11, he went back to film the smoking ruins.

"We were going to relate it to some words of Hamilton's about whether it was possible to have a democracy, or whether force and violence would always prevail, but we didn't use it- it was too overpowering," Bober says.

Even without that grim postscript, Bober's 81 minute film, to be unveiled at the New Jersey Historical Society in Newark Sept. 13, is timely. For one thing, next July 11 will be the 200th anniversary of the Burr-Hamilton showdown, one of the most familiar episodes in American history. For another thing, the echo of Hamilton's clashes with Burr, Thomas Jefferson, and others about the nature of America, can be heard to this day.

"It seemed like nobody knew anything about Alexander Hamilton, except that he's on the $10 bill" says Bober, a Fair Lawn resident. "They knew he was in a duel, and he had something to do with money."

After 20 years of working on other people's films as editor, associate producer, and location scout, Bober decided six years ago to strike out on his own with a documentary feature. He rounded up a short list of collaborators including cinematographer Doron Schlair, co-producer Peter Holland, and actor Jesse Pennington in the crucial role of Hamilton (the film juxtaposes historical dramatizations with paintings, artifacts, and present-day scenes centering on a researching reporter, played by Julia Lowe Walker).

But why Hamilton? Well, for one thing, Bober is originally from the town that Hamilton founded in 1791: Paterson. An epic poem, "Paterson," by native poet William Carlos Williams, dealt with the moment when New Jersey's - and America's - industrial future was born. Bober read it years ago and was transfixed.

"Hamilton and Washington both made a visit to the site during the American Revolution," Bober says. "They visited the Falls, and he saw the tremendous potential for powering industry. From all along the Passaic, from Paterson to Newark, he saw factories."

That was in keeping with Hamilton's idea that America should be an urban, industrial nation with a strong central government. It also came naturally from his temperament. He was restless, a go-getter, a self-made man who rose from doubtful parentage in the West Indies to become America's first secretary of the treasury under Washington. But Hamilton's notion of America wasn't shared by all the founding fathers. In particular Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and the third U.S. president, had a vision of an agrarian nation- a nation of gentleman-farmers living in a loose confederation of sovereign states. Not surprising, since Jefferson was a gentleman-farmer from Virginia, as surely as Hamilton was a hustler from New Jersey (he grew up in present-day Elizabeth).

"I really have this sense that if Hamilton were to look at the United States and see where we are today, he'd say 'Great, this is just what I hoped for,' " Bober says. "Whereas Jefferson would have a hard time. Looking back, this guy [Hamilton] really saw how the United States was going to turn out. He was really looking towards the future."

Hamilton's argument with Burr, which reached its climax with the famous duel, was simpler- he felt that the vice president under Jefferson was a rogue, and lost no opportunity of saying so in print. The death of Hamilton made Burr America's second-favorite traitor, right behind Benedict Arnold.

"Even at the time, this was really the event of the day," Bober says. "Burr was vilified by many. He was actually indicted for murder in Bergen County. But in those days you could simply leave the area and get away with it, which is what he did."

Used by permission of The Record. Published Sunday, August 3, 2003.