A case that has long lingered

One of the most controversial events in 20th century U.S. history, the Sacco and Vanzetti case still rouses the ire of many people nearly 80 years later and -- as Peter Miller’s detailed new documentary on the notorious duo demonstrates -- directly connects to ongoing issues facing this country.

Simply titled “Sacco and Vanzetti,” the 81-minute film contains a surprising amount of information about the two Italian-born immigrants who were tried, convicted and executed in Boston amid accusations of grave injustice.

Through interviews with Howard Zinn, Studs Terkel, a host of historians and people with personal connections to various participants, Miller constructs a fascinating story. Focusing on Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti’s backgrounds, their flawed journey through the judicial system and the long shadow the case has thrown, Miller creates a taught linear narrative.

The film takes a fairly romantic view of the men’s roles as anarchists, casting them as martyrs. The movie’s chorus of interviews almost unanimously echo the sentiment that Sacco and Vanzetti not only failed to receive a fair trial but also that there is ample evidence to cast reasonable doubt on their guilt.

In his documentary feature debut -- he’d previously earned his leftist bona fides making a short on “The Internationale” -- the director displays the benefit of his experience working with Ken Burns on such PBS documentaries as “Frank Lloyd Wright” and the “Jazz” miniseries. Miller uses a similar approach in breaking up the film’s talking heads with visual elements drawn from newspapers and archival photos.

Miller also takes a page from that style in using Tony Shalhoub and John Turturro in dramatic readings of letters written by Sacco and Vanzetti, respectively, while in prison. The readings humanize the men and lend the documentary emotional weight. The pairing, however, has the unintended effect of suggesting a Coen brothers movie.

Film clips -- from a 1971 Italian drama, “Sacco e Vanzetti,” and the red-baiting 1942 Henry Fonda film, “The Male Animal,” in which he plays a college professor in jeopardy for trying to read Sacco and Vanzetti’s letters in class -- are also woven into the narrative. Miller traces the long-standing attraction the case has had for artists and writers, inspiring novels, poems, songs and paintings about their plight.

The film is most effective in drawing parallels to present-day attitudes toward immigrants, the suspension of civil liberties and the death penalty. Regardless of your opinion about Sacco and Vanzetti, the documentary should prove thoughtful and thought-provoking.

The relevant question, as historian Mary Anne Trasciatti points out, is not whether Sacco and Vanzetti were guilty. The way the justice system in this country is structured, the question becomes, were they treated as innocent until proven guilty, and clearly, they were not.

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kevin.crust@latimes.com

“Sacco and Vanzetti.” MPAA rating: Unrated. Running time: 1 hour, 21 minutes. Exclusively at Laemmle’s Music Hall, 9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 274-6869; Playhouse 7, 673 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 844-6500.