From his Academy Award-nominated “On the Ropes, to his singular blend of fact and legend in the Robert Evans portrait “The Kid Stays in the Picture,” Brett Morgen has explored increasingly provocative ways to transform documentary materials into new and exhilarating kinds of movies.

“Chicago 10” tells the story of the buildup and unraveling of the Chicago Conspiracy trial not as “history,” but as an electrifying experience felt with up-to-the-moment immediacy.

Interweaving footage of the brutal clashes between police and demonstrators at the 1968 Democratic convention with 3-D animated reenactments of the outrageous trial that followed it, Morgen turns the audience into eyewitnesses of violent turmoil and absurdist spectacle. Set to a blazing soundtrack that ranges from Black Sabbath and Steppenwolf to the Beastie Boys and Eminem, “Chicago 10” is a stirring account of young Americans taking a stand in the face of an oppressive government—a story with deep resonance to the world of today.