Hijacking Catastrophe NR - 3½ Stars

Face it, War is good business. But good for who? Here's a movie I was turned onto by a friend. A documentary on 9/11, fear and the selling of American Empire. You're not going to find this movie at Blockbuster or Netflix but if you can get your hands on a copy of it, it's a worth while pick.

Propaganda surrounds our every day life whether we realize it or not. See this movie if only to be aware of what "they" want you to hear. The film examines eight aspects of the current situation of American foreign policy. It tries to explain the unnecessary take over of Iraq and why we as a country just sat back and allowed it to happen. Plans for "The Project for the New American Century" and the "Rebuilding Americas Defense" were already in order back in Sept. 2000. Since 9/11, Bush's policy has been to manipulate with fear. The government can program our level of fear at any given moment without justifications.

From the Cold War policies to those of the present, the film shows the desensitizing of Americans. We see the tanks shooting the bullets and soldiers firing the weapons but our media doesn't show us what's on the other end.

The Paul Wolfowitz Doctrine has been around long before 9/11 stating "a crucial Regine change is the first step in global denomination." After 9/11, the manipulation of intelligence was used to achieve a political goal. The fear of Anthrax made it's debut. But you can administer fear in a different way when you allow people to become insecure with themselves. Take away their livelihood, threaten their job security, poor living conditions, and no health benefits, people become fearful of how they will survive.

The film also focuses on the glamour of war coverage with all it's fancy graphical opening screens and 3d models. It focuses on the fact the U.S. spends 400 billion annually on the military, as much as 7 times that of the next largest 60 billion from the Russians.

I was impressed with the "Global Exchange" international human rights organization. My review may contain direct quotes from the film even if I have not identified them with quotation marks. The movie is narrated by Julian Bond and produced by the Media Education Foundation.

Media Education Films
Directors: Sut Jhally, Jeremy Earp

I viewed 5/08