The War on Democracy Reviews

[Highly rated reviewer]

Another anti US documentary...

This is a typical documentary, no facts, anti American with an underlining agenda to undermine what America's foriegn policy is. Though i dont agree with America, this documentary has made me annoyed with the lack of facts and twisting of the truth.

The clips used dont actually say anything, and when they do... they are cut so well to not give full sentences or put what people said in context.- this really annoys me, there is enough hostility in the world , without people like this to try to enrage it further.- im not condeming the US's actions, obviously they have made mistakes, like any government... but this might as well be a properganda dvd.

Stay clear, the bloke along who presents doesnt speak fast enough and after a day at work its the last thing you will want to watch!

You have been warned!

one word !!EXCELLENT!!

THIS IS A FILM ABOUT THE U.S.A'S WAR ON DEMOCRACY IT EXPLAINS HOW THE U.S.A REMOVES FULLY WORKING DEMOCACYS AROUND THE WORLD AND REPLACES THEM WITH DICTATORSHIPS AND THEN CLAIMS TO FIGHT FOR DEMOCACY IF YOU WANA KNOW WHAT THE USA IS UP TO AROUND THE WORLD THEN WATCH THIS IT WILL CHANGE YOUR VIEWS ON THE U.S.A

Democracy - good or a bad thing

I can’t believe the amount of corruption the Americans are involved in. This is very informative documentary by a well respected and renowned ‘true’ journalist, John Pilger. You will realise the amount of research, time, effort and danger that must have been involved with compiling this kind of information.

It’s not Pilger telling you what he thinks, there are hard facts, an interview with a former CIA, and interviews with heads of state. We think the West likes to encourage the spread of democracy; it’s not the case as I’ve learnt after watching this documentary.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Human life and democracy...so what!?

Documentaries such as this are frequently dismissed as biased.

The credibility of an investigation such as this can be tested by listening to what each side is saying and the reason or motivation for saying it:

Firstly the truth of the documentary comes less from John Pilger than from the mouth of the CIA itself.

If you get this documentary just listen to what the CIA representative says which is so dismissive of human life and the value of democracy.

Secondly it would be easier to make a less challenging documentary. This suggests that it is more likely that the motivation for tackling this challenging subject is the need to communicate something of significance rather than entertain by simple controversy and bias.

An excellent piece of journalism with credibility and coherent insight.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Who can give this 5 stars ! It's so poor !

Considering the number of good documentaries out there I went into watching this film with high hopes. I work for an environmental agency and my boyfriend works as an accountant, I'm a liberal verging on green party, he's a conservative.... so we have different views on such things... however we were both disappointed by this film.

It's too partisan to be creditable, it's preaching in such a way to alienate the people it needs to win over (i.e. my conservative boyfriend) who can dismiss quite a lot of the arguments the documentary puts across based on economics. (e.g. if you don't have investment you don't have growth... so if your population spirals out of control then how are you going to increase their standard of living ? it's ok for Venezuela with their oil, but what about countries like Chile ?)

This film had potential.... i.e. budget... but it's preaching messages to the converted. There's no humour or satire like in a Michael Moore film where it's entertaining and therefore eye opening to the people we need to bring into the debate...

This film is a slightly boring waste of an opportunity without balance and an unconcealed agenda. I'm really dissapointed because I feel it lets my own team down !

A must see

A Documentary explaining how the world politics work and what is the value of human lives. Its a must watch if your a teacher political worker or work for any peackeeping organissation, journalists should really gain alot from this how their words effect the peoples lives and how the media is responsible for mass murder.

A sickening truth, and hard hitting journalism

This is a thoughtfully researched and well documented film. Although a 5 star rating states ' I love this', you cannot love a movie covering such tragic events such as those in Latin America of the last Century.

Do not use this film as an excuse to understand modern terrorism today. I don't feel there are parallels. There are no Latin American fundamentalists trying to bomb US and UK cities, yet they have more reason to hold a deep grievance and hatred of western governments than anyone on the planet. Conversely, the power of this movie comes from the softness and quietness of the survivors of massacres that occurred in Chile and many other South American countries, a list that includes almost all but Brazil.

This is not an angry film,but a touching film. Don't go hating American people either, they appear to be easily duped by flimsy US media coverage and fundamentalist views held by past (and current) politicians, analysts, and national security staff that seem to suffer from the same fears that the Mongols had in the age of Ghengis Khan, that is 'if they are different from us and we don't understand them, eliminate them'.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Democracy on trial

This is a fascinating look at U.S. foreign policy and its effect on real people. The stories Pilger tells are bleak and sometimes upsetting but he's smart enough to temper them with genuine hope with the testimony of people who are trying to make a difference.

It's easy to accuse documentaries such as this of being biased but the fact is that high-ranking Americans seldom want to answer the difficult questions posed on-camera. We are, however, treated to a former C.I.A. chief who is so staggeringly blasé about his government's exploitation of some of the world's poorest countries, that it's his opinions that make Pilger's strongest case. He openly admits that the U.S. will always do whatever is necessary to 'protect its national security interests'. What he means is that America will overthrow democratically-elected governments to replace them with dictators who will sell the country's natural rescources to them, instead of those who need it most, the resident population.

If there is a criticism of Pilger, it's his tendency to use non-specific language when hard facts would have strengthened his point. We hear phrases such as, 'Many of them were children', when ball-park figures or percentages would carry more weight.

This is another in a line of recent quality documentaries that attempts to open our eyes to the fact that the U.S. government is empire-building in order to give it's masters, the corporations, an easy ride.

Thankfully, we in the U.K. have 'New Labour' to protect us.

We are buggered.

ok !

After reading a lot of positive reviews of this documentary I was really looking forward to seeing it but it didn't live up to the hype.Whilst it presented some interesting facts they were done so in a completely unbalanced fashion which detracted from the credibility rather than reinforcing the message John Pilger was trying to get across. I think being too selective with the choice of witnesses and commentators also lent the film the feel of a sixth form documentary as did the cheesy soundtrack.

Could do better !

[Highly rated reviewer]

The Truth!

As always John Pilger delivers a truthful and frightening documentary about the powers that be (USA) and their ruthless disregard for other countries and people's lives. Always out to serve their own interests (the Dollar) and forever at the cost of poor peoples livelihood's and their lives. Interfering in other countries policies in order to gain control of their resources, trying to be sneaky but more and more blatantly disregarding all obstacles, however innocent, in their way. All in the name of DEMOCRACY of course. Like all Pilger's films a must see and should be standard viewing for all in schools and most definately on the news. This is the real news, what news is supposed to be, however ugly, this is the TRUTH.