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36 out of 42 people found the following review useful:
A surprisingly hopeful film that has to be seen, 19 July 2007
9/10
Author: Jeffrey Blackler from London, UK

Students of Uncle Sam's doings in Latin America from the overthrow of Allende or earlier will find little new in Pilger's first big screen documentary. But its message needs to repeated again and again and as widely as possible: that "freedom" and "democracy" loving US regimes have stolen or overridden the rights of the poor in every part of the world, perhaps most of all in the "back yard". I saw the movie in a white liberal middle class district of London where the normally reticent audience gave it a round of applause. Preaching to the converted maybe. It needs to be shown as widely as possible. Viva Pilger!

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26 out of 31 people found the following review useful:
A first rate primer on US atrocities, 17 September 2007
9/10
Author: Chris Docker (eyeforfilm) from Scotland, United Kingdom

John Pilger has won high accolades for journalism (Journalist of the Year, twice) and award-winning television documentaries. But some people will still ignore him because he is too 'New Statesman'. He utters unpopular views. He backs them up with evidence. But that can leave you feeling uncomfortable. His new film does that in spades. Over South America.

This new documentary is his first major film for the cinema.

When I personally have travelled in South America, I marvelled at how basic facts about Western foreign policy's role in destabilising 'unfriendly' governments is normal knowledge. From shop workers to academics. Far more than in Britain. Here, most people are now probably aware that the CIA toppled the democratically elected President Allende of Chile. That they were responsible for the succession of the tyrant Pinochet. Those with slightly longer memories probably recall the scandal over Nicaragua when the USA backed the wrong side. Again, against a democratically elected government. To live with ourselves (and our governments) we tend to think these were just mistakes of the past. The reality is that the truth, in those cases, couldn't be suppressed easily. The reality is that similar events are continuing. As policy.

Suppressing truth is always a sensitive issue. Many years ago, when I came out of the Singapore War Museum, there were Japanese visitors with tears in their eyes. It was the first time they had been confronted with the horrors that their government had committed during WWII. Other countries frequently feel angry that Japan does not retell more of its war crimes in standard school books. It is simply easier, in most cases, not to. Pilger's film is about crimes against democracy that it is 'easier' to ignore. The culprit being a country that almost invented the word. The United States of America.

Interviews are conducted with renegade CIA agents like Philip Agee, but also with Duane Clarridge, former head of CIA operations in South America. Clarridge openly defends America's right to do what they want anywhere in the world and to anyone, regardless of their innocence - as long as it's in America's national interest. 'Like it or lump it,' he says. A harrowing interview features an American nun, Dianna Ortiz. Ortiz reveals how she was tortured and gang raped in the late 80s by a group led by a fellow American clearly in league with a US-backed regime. Ortiz asks whether the American people are aware of the role their country plays in subverting innocent nations under the guise of a 'war on terror'. CIA man and Watergate conspirator Howard Hunt describes how he and others overthrew a previously democratically elected government. Hunt even mentions how he organised "a little harmless bombing".

More controversially, Pilger features extensive footage with Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez. This is a man demonised by President Bush, but one about whom the facts are harder to determine. That he has used much of his country's vast oil wealth to benefit the poor is largely accepted, give or take some details. But that he has taken steps to concentrate power in himself arouses sterner debate. War on Democracy, uniquely, shows us the country from the inside. Many of the conditions are reminiscent of Allende's Chile. The power of the media seems unabated and is fiercely anti-government. But we see how it is owned by the rich half of the class divide. When the military try to unseat Chavez, thousands of people come out of the slums to protest until he is returned to power. These are people who had no voice before Chavez and they are devoted to him as passionately. Just as the wealthy classes are opposed to him. Given the forces he is up against, the assumption of power (and from a democratically elected base) seems more understandable. We recall how Allende, even with popular support, was brought down. Chavez looks like a tougher nut.

Pilger's attitude towards Chavez is friendly, although he does ask him about the poverty that remains, in spite of the vast oil wealth. Could his interview have been more balanced without playing into the hands of those fabricating the lies he is trying to expose? Pilger also travels to America and uses undercover filming. The 'School of Americas' in Georgia is where Pinochet's torture squads were trained, together with death squads in other Latin American countries. The wide-ranging testimony is unsettling.

Pilger's extensive travels in Latin America, in depth interviews, documentation and film archives obtained under US freedom of information, evidence corroborated by people in opposing camps, his own calm sincerity - they all paint a cohesive portrait of USA attacks on democracy.

The main fault I found with the War on Democracy was not any lack of balance. Pilger argues his case quite methodically and convincingly and gives critics ample right of reply. He is not a soundbite merchant, parading flashy quotes in Michael Moore fashion. But the difficulty - and one Moore did overcome - is that Pilger's years of experience on the small screen has not translated effectively to cinema. The timing is probably right - what with the re-examinations of 9/11 and criticisms of US policy now being acceptable topics of discussion. Horrors of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib quickly come to mind. But it still feels like a television programme, even if it is many notches above Panorama or Dispatches.

Overall, The War on Democracy is an excellent primer on US destabilisation and anti-democracy measures in Latin America. To civil rights enthusiasts and Amnesty International supporters, much of it will be nothing new. But it is told with piercing insight and no sense of personal axes-to-grind. Previous films by John Pilger have done much good. $40 million was raised unsolicited by his film on Cambodia (Cambodia Year Zero) which to help the thousands of orphaned children there. The aim of this film is simply to increase awareness.

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18 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
An inspirational, beautiful, film, 3 September 2007
10/10
Author: (tnrc75@mac.com) from California

A labor of love on the part of Pilger, a long-time activist for peace and freedom for all, Pilger journeys into several Latin American countries-Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, and Chile, and documents efforts being made to broaden the accessibility of freedom. He documents the populism promulgated by leaders by Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales, the President of relatively poor Bolivia, to promote the values of true democracy, in which the poor are franchised and invested in the well-being of the country. Pilger talks to people who were adversely affected by CIA-backed coups in many of these same South and Central American countries during the second half of the 20th century, making a powerful witness to the deleterious effect of greed and the disproportionate allocation of power in the hands of a few. The work of the CIA on behalf of US corporately acceptable "leaders" is documented; much of this is not new, but Pilger's main accomplishment is collating and connecting the material on so many foreign interventions by the CIA.

A wise cinematographic decision by Pilger is to interview and show the people of these nations. They appear decent and it is important for Westerners to realize that they have a lot in common with the so-called impoverished. Beneath our different exteriors, we share many characteristics. Also, the footage of the countries, and often just the day-to-day lives are lovely and the mountainous backdrops of Bolivia, Peru, and Chile, are beautiful. Pilger makes a strong case for government conducted on behalf of the people and interviews Chavez, allowing him to make his case for such a rule-of-law. Pilger interviews a couple of CIA sources, including the head of the CIA in South America during the mid-1980s. He asks him whether the ouster of Allende had been justified and the man states that the ends had to justify the means. He also said that US interests were protected via the installation of Pinochet, failing to recognize the contrast between US claims of respect for democratically elected governments and US intervention when the US, oh.....felt like it. Pilger's decision to refuse to interrupt while the man put his foot in his mouth and re-affirmed the importance of protecting US interests over even sovereign governments, seems wise. The man only seems all the more out-of-touch and arrogant for his unapologetic defense of autocracy. This is a powerful indictment of greed and of the possible benefits available to ALL if the US will allow sovereign governments to work autonomously. Notably, the film is available via Google Video for those interested.

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13 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Optimistic and rousing documentary, 9 July 2007
8/10
Author: Alain English from London, England

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

John Pilger's first documentary for the cinema is also his most optimistic. When I sat down to watch it with an audience, I was wondering why Pilger had chosen this time to release a documentary for cinema when he's been doing this for television for so long. I think the optimism is the reason, the need to get that optimism across to a much broader audience than the one that views his television work. Recent work like "The Corporation", "The Yes Men", as well as the work of Micheal Moore, has shown a demand for this kind of non-fiction in the cinema and Pilger is following this trend. What this work has in common is need to critique US power, the different ways in which this manifests itself, and the effect it has on people all over the world.

Here, Pilger focuses on Latin America, the source of much popular uprising in recent years with the arrival in Venezuala of President Hugo Chavez and the failed US-backed bid to overthrow him after he acknowledged and championed the poor at the expense of the rich minority whom (because of this) he had begun to make uncomfortable.

Interestingly there is a lack of censorship shown in the Venezualan media which means attacks on the President and his policies are not only constant but almost violently vociferous. Perhaps the only failing in Pilger's examination of Venezuala (including a face-to-face interview with Chavez himself) is specifying where this opposition comes from, asides from the privileged minority in the country and US media and government officials.

Pilger further examines other cases in Latin America, including El Salvatore, Guatemala and Chile, where US or US-backed suppression of social or political movements (often elected democracies) that oppose their involvement in these countries has led to poverty, torture and murder. Former CIA agents willingly admit on screen that if a government, democratic or not, was not co-operative with US power they were often under orders from the highest level to destroy or undermine such governments using any methods necessary. One such official, a former CIA chief called Duane Clarridge responsible for torture and murder of civilians in Chile, is so blatantly ignorant and unapologetic in his answers to Pilger's questions that his responses induced laughter in the audience I watched it with.

Throughout all of this, Pilger features his usual interviewing of civilians caught up in, and often victims of, these various conflicts. Some of this is insightful but, like his use of music in some moments, can border on the emotionally manipulative. Also his early extensive emphasis on Venezuala means his coverage of the other countries feels abbreviated as a result. That said, most of the time Pilger gets it right and his interviews along with his readings of each country's history effectively communicate his message.

Rather than despairing of the reality of what he depicts, Pilger instead offers hope for change in the will of the people never to be victimised and to continue to resist and challenge oppressive power - a change is a-coming and Latin America, like the rest of us, is right in the middle of it.

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11 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Out of 'noir' comes hope, 2 August 2007
9/10
Author: Cliff Hanley from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Journalist and conscience of the nation John Pilger has been making excellent 'wake-up' TV programmes for years, and as we enter the new golden age of the documentary it was inevitable that he would move up to the big screen. He has chosen the recent struggle between Venezuela and the US as his leading theme, and the film opens by setting the background, before examining the events of the past few years, first by showing the 'spin' colluded upon by the short-lived coup, its US sponsors and the news media; then by exploding that fiction. It works, as it should in a movie, like an epic thriller. But even Micky Spillane loses out in competition with horrific real life. From Venezuela we are taken back to the other countries, where Uncle Sam has stamped on democracy: back to Guatemala, the original 'banana republic' in the US' arrogantly termed back yard, and including of course Chile. British viewers will be disappointed that Margaret Thatcher didn't get a mention as the gracious supporter of the murderous General Pinochet. There was a mention of terrorist's supporters being as worthy of condemnation as the terrorists themselves. Just a five-frame subliminal shot of Maggie there would do it! But there are plenty of choice nuggets in this film, painstakingly compiled from recent video, Pilger's interviews with Hugo Chavez himself, panoramic shots of these countries as they are now; the hills, the suburbs, the barrios, plus ancient news and propaganda footage. Some of the old stuff brought back the paranoid atmosphere of the Fifties, when we were faced with the Red Menace, and we were expected to 'duck and cover' under the nearest picnic cloth when we saw that Flash. One choice set piece is the interview with Duane Clarridge, ex-CIA man with responsibility for the torture and murder in Chile, justified because it was in America's interest, and sometimes 'you have to take unpleasant steps'. Or, as he put it another way, it just didn't happen. His contemptuous dismissals of all Pilger's allegations go beyond self-parody. Once again, real life leaves no room for the satirists. Despite it being the first really hot day of this wet English summer, the theatre was half-full, and the audience gave a heart-felt applause.

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10 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Duane warns of further US coups in South America, 21 August 2007
9/10
Author: somenforma from London, England

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I won't duplicate comments made by others apart from to say that the film was well-written and explained. Pilger let the facts speak for themselves. By not over-dramatising (in Hollywood style), the film was bearable to watch, in spite of the terrible subject matter.

Special mention has to go to the angry CIA man (Duane), who warned that if countries don't follow Washington's wishes economically and politically, their governments/people will face further coups, torture, poverty and economic sabotage. Although we always suspected this will carry on, it's still refreshing/chilling to actually hear it from the horse's mouth.

I watched this on ITV on 20.8.07 from 11pm to after 12:30. ITV is not usually a very political channel and I would have expected to see this on Channel 4 or BBC2, so good work, ITV, for raising your intellectual level, even if it was when many are sleeping.

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Once again Pilger is indispensable in his journalistic endeavours.., 2 September 2008
9/10
Author: twiddlythumbs-1 from Edinburgh, Scotland

John Pilger is a unique journalist with credentials to boot. I find this documentary very helpful in shining a light on otherwise ill reported topics. The only problem is that this title is unavailable in the United States just now. It is funny that all his documentaries aren't shown there. Some aren't shown here in the U.K. The idea that he is Anti-west as is touted by some very narrow minded people is absurd. I recommend watching this Documentary and many others of his like it. You will find he is not anti west, just anti corporate globalisation. That is a very important issue that is never covered by the mainstream media. This is the only reason that the other review here is condemning him. Watch with an open mind. With regards here is a quote of Jeanette winterson about history and information in a media frenzied world. "If you want to keep your own teeth, make your own sandwiches." The world needs more information like this. We are tomorrows people and the fact that the U.s, U.K (my own country) and many other huge corporate meccas ignore the rest of the world, creating this muddled up terror riddled nightmare, can only be settled, even a little, by people opening their minds and hearts to more than just their own comfy lifestyle. I not a conspiracy theorist, they should all be condemned. Freedom of information is essential for great journalism, journalism should publicise human beings (like us) being screwed in our name. This documentary is great. watch more like it. Well done again Mr Pilger. :)

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21 out of 39 people found the following review useful:
Fascist America without it's invisibility cloak, 2 September 2007
10/10
Author: trausti-hraunfjord from Peru

I had been waiting for the film for several months, and when I finally got to see it (through google video), I was in awe. This proved to be one of the best, if not THE best film of all times in my opinion. By far the best documentary I have ever seen. When the US is allowed to behave the way it wants, the results will be terrible, as history classes normally don't teach us, but that doesn't mean that the US is behaving well. It only has good PR and propaganda in place world wide. The US is in effect the Evil Empire, and the sooner it is put to sleep, the better it would be. For as long as it is allowed to do things the "American way", the rest of the world will be suffering greatly. America is fascist, has been so for as long as it has existed, and will probably continue to be so, because the American public is not willing or able to understand the way their country is construed. There is nothing democratic about the US or the way it attacks other countries economically or militarily. It is pure fascism. The American public accepts whatever they are told by their handlers, because then they don't have to take responsibility for anything. (true cowards). Fortunately the US will be defeated, and my hope, along with most of the world, is that their defeat will be so great, that no other nation will ever behave like the US has and does. Any human being who watches this film, will have watery eyes when it is over.... the international terrorism caused and carried out by the US is no less to day than it was 30 or 50 years ago. It is sickening they have been enabled to carry out their hideous crimes. Millions murdered around the world, so that the US can maintain it's "leading role". It doesn't matter what the president of the US is named or what party he comes from, it's the whole BASIS for the country which is rotten to the core. Disgusting country which ... if possible... should be launched into space, towards some big black hole where it would disappear forever.

Watch the film and see the truth about it all.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
One side documentary that reveals the other side that never been told by government's, 20 July 2008
10/10
Author: zero from Indonesia

And it's probably not going to be thing that prevent this to reach 10 score IMHO, but the fact that this documentary carry a lot of burden to deliver the facts and truth, and in many ways it did. For those who thinks this is one sided approach and subjective they have their right of believing that, but for us who live near the facts it's the other side story that opens what we always feel and experience but never had the chance to reveal it to the world. There are many case in my country that possesses many similarities with things showed in this documentary, from the Reagen's era of communist fear until now, from the oppressive backed-up leader to now... minus that we don't have Chavez type of person here, which is very unfortunate. On the short notes yes this is very one sided documentary shows, whether you despise it or love depend's on your experience and point of view, but for some this one just complemented the other side of story which always been oppressed by the great force in shadows. probably only time will tells the real truth about this and many events around this movies.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Pilger is one of the last living saints left on this planet...!, 11 January 2009
10/10
Author: theactorscafe from Australia

I could write pages of why this film is so good. But I won't. I could write pages of why this film is needed but I won't. I could write pages on why Pilger is the greatest documentary maker of all time but I won't. Pilger is one of those people that doesn't do it for praise, doesn't do it for glory and also doesn't do it to make friends ;) John Pilger does it because everyone else doesn't. What I find so remarkable is that I don't know another journalist or filmmaker who truly represents the true nature of being human. A man who not only sticks to his guns but has a pure spirit to get things right from the beginning. I "SALUTE" (selfless plug) you mate. You are my favorite film makers of all time. I will forever hold you in the highest respect in these simple words.. "You make me a better person and a much more courageous filmmaker.

For those reading this.. don't just watch this film but go purchase every film ever made by Pilger. 10/10 for being you.

Regards

Matt Norman Director / Producer "SALUTE" www.salutethemovie.com www.theactorscafe.com

"I can only dream that I will make a difference, but I can assure you I will" (Matt Norman 2009)

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