"One day we’ll conquer the world and make the whole world white," stated Brandi Houston, a young devotee of online hate groups, as her toddler sits serenely on her lap.
Houston is only one of the disturbing people captured by Hate.com: Extremists on the Internet, a documentary commissioned by HBO, which debuted in October as part of that network’s "America Undercover" series.
Written, produced and directed by Vince DiPersio—who is represented for commercials by Dark Light Pictures, West Hollywood—Hate.com shows how Neo Nazi groups are exploiting the Internet to spread their message and recruit new members, including children, to their cause. The documentary then links the people exposed to the information on the Web to a number of hate crimes, including terrorism and murder. Hate.com was produced in association with the Intelligence Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, in Montgomery, Ala., whose founder, Morris Dees, narrates.
Hate.com is the 12th documentary made by DiPersio, who has been nominated for three Academy Awards for his work. This includes directing Crack USA: Country Under Siege (1989), about white kids on crack in West Palm Beach, Miami; directing Death on the Job (’91), about negligent workplace safety practices; and producing Blues Highway (’94). Previous work for HBO includes directing, producing and writing Memphis P.D.—War on the Streets (’96); directing Images of Life (’98); and directing, producing and writing 5 American Handguns-5 American Kids (’95), all of which won Emmy Awards. He has also directed two features: the independent film The Price of Kissing (’97) and the telemovie Flying Blind (’90).
DiPersio said that he likes to cross over among commercials, documentaries and features. A lot of what he learns from commercials, he uses in his documentaries; and techniques that he’s picked up while making documentaries, he uses in his spot work. "There is a lot of cross-fertilization creatively that I find to be really stimulating," he observed.
Among his recent commercial credits are Reebok’s "Allen Iverson" campaign, which includes "Innovations," "Shoes" and "Journey" via Leo Burnett Co., Chicago, and several spots for 20th Century Fox’s re-release of the Star Wars Trilogy.
DiPersio confessed that in his documentary work he has generally followed a dark beat, because he "likes to go the edge a lot." But even this veteran of what he calls "edgier" work was disturbed by some of the people that he came across while making Hate.com.
"There were times when it was difficult. I always start every film by being really curious about the subject, and I really want to hear what people have to say. There were a couple of times in this one when it crossed over from curiosity into real anger," related DiPersio. "I’ve done a few documentaries over the years that have stayed with me and have been hard to shake, and this one has definitely been hard to shake. Delving into the depths of people’s hatred, knowing how hard it is for them to reason about it and how willing they are to act on that hatred—these are things that you don’t really want to know."
DiPersio has a loose arrangement with HBO—sometimes he approaches the network with ideas, and sometimes the network approaches him. This time, the network came to him with a column that had appeared in The New York Times, about hate groups on the Web, and asked him to look into the idea. As soon as he delved into the subject, along with his producer, William Guttentag, DiPersio realized it was an important story and immediately set out to work. The documentary took nine months from start to finish, and 40 hours of footage were captured.
In producing the documentary, DiPersio gained access to the hate movement’s most powerful, but elusive, leaders to question them about their politics and online recruitment. His approach, as in his other films, was to maintain objectivity, allowing his subjects to tell their stories in their own words.
"Some were cautious. I basically got on the phone with everyone and said, ‘We are going to portray what you say accurately. So if you stand by what you say, here is your chance to say it, and people are going to make up their own minds about it,’ " explained DiPersio. "You approach these people with curiosity and you really want to hear their story, and it’s amazing how good they are, so there is no reason to intrude."
Interviewees included Matt-hew and Tyler Williams, who are in prison serving time for the murder of a gay couple; William Pierce, the author of The Turner Diaries, which is the alleged blueprint for the Oklahoma City bombing; Don Black, founder of Stormfront.com, which is regarded as the Internet’s first hate site, and his 11-year-old son, Derek Black, who manages Stormfront.com for Kids.
The filmmakers also visited an armed compound in Montana, which is run by Aryan Nation founder Richard Butler. "You go into this little town where a lot of people are excited about his presence and glad to have him there, and then you go through these gates, way into the heart of this place, and it gets a little testy at times—I don’t know if it was by accident or intent, but at the end of the shoot a couple of dogs came after us," recounted DiPersio.
Hoping the documentary will raise public awareness of the prevalence of hate groups on the Web, and perhaps stimulate action to curb their ability to influence youth, DiPersio found the whole experience repugnant, yet fascinating. "Personally, it served as a wake-up call about some of the extremely dangerous content our children have access to on the Internet. I only hope others will be similarly enlightened when they watch this film," he concluded.
