Parity Pipeline

Genre

Synopsis

August 21st, 1971. On this day prisoners’ rights leader George Jackson allegedly attempts to break out of California's notorious San Quentin Prison. Three guards and two inmates are brutally murdered, and Jackson is shot dead. The violence shocks the nation and sets in motion a wave of unrest at other prisons. Caught in this storm is a young lawyer named Stephen Bingham. On August 21st, Bingham is the last outside visitor to see George Jackson before the violence erupts. A few days later, he is indicted on five counts of first-degree murder for allegedly passing a gun to Jackson during the visit. No other suspects are even considered, nor is any investigation conducted once they have identified Steve Bingham as the likely source. The FBI is determined to crack down on radical lawyers, who according to J. Edgar Hoover are “more dangerous than the people who throw bombs,” and it launches a major manhunt. A nationwide all-points bulletin (APB) is issued for Bingham’s arrest, but he is nowhere to be found. For thirteen years, Bingham lives a shadowy existence under an assumed name, navigating a world of danger in a distant country even as he dreams of a return home to face his accusers and clear his name. As we follow his astonishing odyssey, the film uncovers the dramatic twists and turns of his life trajectory, from his blue-blood Connecticut background to participation in the Mississippi Freedom Summer of ’64, from the hallowed halls of Yale to the dark corners of the California prison system, from activist attorney to fugitive from justice, and from shadowy exile to celebrity defendant. Through the lens of Bingham’s experience, and the revealing and often contradictory accounts of those around him, A DOUBLE LIFE unfolds the complex canvas of a turbulent era in American history.