In the 1930s, Hurwitz was an active member of the Film and Photo League, a politically engaged arts collective, and worked together with Pare Lorentz, Willard Van Dyke, Paul Strand, and others to produce such films as Scottsboro, The Plow That Broke the Plains, Heart of Spain, and Native Land. Over an eight-year period in the 1970s, Hurwitz made this film tribute to his deceased wife and colleague, the film editor Peggy Lawson. His most personal work and his last major production, Hurwitz’s film is at once epic and lyrical; a portrait of an individual and chronicle of the times; an ode to the spirit of artistic collaboration and a testament to political idealism. The film contains documentary footage, reconstructions, and excerpts from a number of films; the voices of Paul Robeson and Alfred Drake; and music that ranges from Shostakovich to Mark Blitzstein (subject of the recent The Cradle Will Rock).