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The Power of Nightmares
Title screen of The Power of Nightmares
Directed byAdam Curtis
StarringAdam Curtis (narrator)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes3
Production
ProducerAdam Curtis
Running time180 min. (in three parts)
Original release
NetworkBBC 2
Release20 October –
3 November 2004

The Power of Nightmares is a BBC documentary film series, written and produced by Adam Curtis. The series is subtitled The Rise of the Politics of Fear. The film consists of three 1-hour parts, which were first broadcast in the UK in late 2004 and have been subsequently aired in multiple countries and shown in several film festivals.

The documentary argues that during the 20th Century politicians lost the power to inspire the masses, and that the optimistic visions and ideologies they had offered were perceived to have failed. The film asserts that politicians consequently sought a new role that would restore their power and authority. Curtis, who also narrates the series, declares in the film's introduction that “Instead of delivering dreams, politicians now promise to protect us: from nightmares”. To illustrate this Curtis compares the rise of the American neoconservatives and radical Islamists, believing that both are closely connected; that some popular beliefs about these groups are inaccurate; and that both movements have benefited from exaggerating the scale of the terrorist threat.

The Power of Nightmares has been praised by critics in both Britain and the United States. Its message and content have also been the subject of various critiques and criticisms from conservatives and progressives.

Synopsis

Part 1 - Baby It's Cold Outside

Paul Wolfowitz. A leading Neo-Conservative and a prominent figure in Curtis's documentary.

The first part of the series explains the origins of Islamism and Neo-Conservatism. It shows Egyptian civil servant Sayyid Qutb, the founder of Islamism, visiting America to learn about the education system but becoming disgusted with what he saw as a corruption of morals and virtues in western society through individualism. When he returns to Egypt he is disturbed by westernization under President Nasser and becomes convinced that in order to save society it must be completely restructured along the lines of Islamic law, although it still can utilize western technology. He also becomes convinced that this can only be accomplished through the use of an elite "vanguard" to lead a revolution against the established order. Qutb establishes the Muslim Brotherhood, and after being tortured in one of Nasser's jails comes to believe that western-influenced leaders can justly be killed for the sake of removing their corruption. Qutb is executed in 1966, but he inspires the future mentor of Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, to start his own secret Islamist group. Inspired by the 1979 Iranian revolution, Zawahiri and his allies assassinate Egyptian president Anwar Al Sadat in 1981 in hopes of starting their own revolution. The revolution does not materialize, and Zawahiri comes to believe that the majority of Muslims have been corrupted by their western-inspired leaders and thus may be legitimate targets of violence if they do not join him.

At the same time in the United States, a group of disillusioned liberals including Irving Kristol and Paul Wolfowitz look to the political thinking of Leo Strauss after the general failure of President Johnson's "Great Society". They come to the conclusion that the emphasis on individual liberty was the undoing of the plan, and envisioned restructuring America by uniting the American people against a common evil, and set about creating a mythical enemy. These factions, the Neo-Conservatives, come to power under the Reagan administration with their allies Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and work to unite the United States in fear of the Soviet Union. The Neo-Conservatives allege the Soviet Union is not following the terms of disarmament between the two countries, and with the investigation of "Team B" they accumulate a case to prove this with dubious evidence and methods. President Reagan is convinced nonetheless.

The title of this episode is taken from a popular song which Qutb heard played at a church-organized dance for young people, which he saw as symptomatic of the immorality of American society.

Part 2 - The Phantom Victory

In the second episode, Islamist factions rapidly falling under the more radical influence of Zawahiri and his rich Saudi acolyte Osama bin Laden join the Neo-Conservative-influenced Reagan Administration to combat the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. They are successful in repulsing the Soviet armies, and when the Eastern Bloc begins to collapse in the late 1980s both groups believe they were the primary architect of the "Evil Empire's" defeat, and thus have the power to carry out their revolutions in their homelands. Curtis instead argues that the Soviets were on their last legs and were doomed to collapse without intervention.

Both factions' revolutions end in failure. The Neo-Conservatives' aspirations to use the United States Army's power for further destruction of evil are thrown off track by the ascent of George H. W. Bush to the American Presidency, followed by the 1992 election of Bill Clinton leaving them out of power. The Neo-Conservatives, with their conservative Christian allies, attempt to demonize Clinton throughout his presidency with various real and fabricated stories of corruption and immorality. To their disappointment, however, the American people do not acknowledge him as an enemy as they intended and remain indifferent to Clinton's alleged evils. The Islamist attempts at revolution end in massive bloodshed, leaving the Islamists without popular support. Zawahiri and bin Laden flee to the sufficiently safe Afghanistan and declare a new strategy; to fight Western-inspired moral decay they must deal a blow to its source: the United States.

Part 3 - The Shadows in the Cave

File:Ayman al Zawahiri.jpg
Curtis argues that the forces under the direct command of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri (pictured) are in fact very small and mainstream image of al-Qaeda is a myth.

The final episode addresses the actual rise of al-Qaeda. Curtis argues that after their failed revolutions bin Laden and Zawahiri had little or no popular support, let alone a serious complex organization of terrorists, and were dependent upon independent operatives to carry out their new call for jihad. The film instead shows the United States government wanting to prosecute bin Laden in absentia for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, and needing to prove him to be the head of a criminal organization to do so. They find a former associate of bin Laden, Jamal al-Fadl, and pay him to testify that bin Laden was the head of a massive terrorist organization called "al-Qaeda." With the September 11th attacks, Neo-Conservatives in the new Republican government of George W. Bush use this created concept of an organization to justify another crusade against a new evil enemy, leading to the launch of the War on Terrorism.

After the American invasion of Afghanistan fails to uproot the alleged terrorist network, the Neo-Conservatives focus inwards, searching unsuccessfully for terrorist "sleeper cells" in America. They then extend the war on "terror" to a war against general perceived evils with the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The ideas and tactics also spread to the United Kingdom where Tony Blair uses the threat of terrorism to give him a new moral authority. The repercussions of the Neo-Conservative strategy are also explored with an investigation of indefinitely-detained terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay, many alledgedly taken on the word of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance without actual investigation on the part of the United States military, and other forms of "preemption" against non-existent and unlikely threats made simply on the grounds that the parties involved could later become a threat. Curtis also makes a specific attempt to debunk fears of a dirty bomb attack, and concludes by reassuring viewers that politicians will eventually have to admit that their claims of threats are void of reality.

The title of this episode appears to refer to Plato's allegory of the cave, which is mentioned in the course of this part of the film, and to the belief in the complex in Tora Bora.

Content

Adam Curtis originally intended to create a film about conflict within the conservative movement between the ideologies of Neo-Conservative "elitism" and more individualist libertarian factions. During his research into the conservative movement, however, Curtis first saw similarities in the origins of the Neo-Conservative and Islamist ideologies. The topic of the planned documentary shifted to these latter two ideologies while the libertarian element was eventually phased out.

The film uses a montage of various stock footage from the BBC archives, often used for ironic or humorous effect, over which Curtis narrates. Curtis has credited James Mossman as the inspiration for his montage technique, while his use of humor has been credited to his first work with television as a talent scout for That's Life! He has also compared the entertainment format of his films to the American Fox News channel, claiming the network has been successful because " really enjoying what they’re doing."

The film's soundtrack includes at least two pieces from the films of John Carpenter as well as tracks from Brian Eno's Another Green World. There is also music by composers Charles Ives and Ennio Morricone, while Curtis has credited the industrial band Skinny Puppy for the "best" samples in the films.

Airings and distribution

The Power of Nightmares was first aired over a period of three weeks beginning on 20 October 2004 on BBC 2 in the united Kingdom, although the death of Kenneth Bigley lead the BBC to curtail their advertising prior to its airing. It was rebroadcast in January 2005 over three days, with the third film updated to take note of the Law Lords ruling from the previous December that detaining foreign terrorist suspects without trial was illegal.

In May 2005 the film was screened in a 2½ hour edit at the Cannes Film Festival out of competition. Pathé has purchased distribution rights for this cut of the film.

As of June 2007, the film has yet to be aired in the United States. Curtis has commented on this failure:

"Something extraordinary has happened to American TV since September 11. A head of the leading networks who had better remain nameless said to me that there was no way they could show it. He said, 'Who are you to say this?' and then he added, 'We would get slaughtered if we put this out.' When I was in New York I took a DVD to the head of documentaries at HBO. I still haven't heard from him."

Although the series has not been shown on U.S. television, its three episodes were shown in succession on 26 February 2005 as part of the True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri, USA, with a personal appearance by Curtis. It has also been featured at the 2006 Seattle International Film Festival and the San Francisco International Film Festival, with the latter awarding Curtis their Persistence of Vision Award.

The films were first aired by CBC in Canada in April 2005, and again in July 2006. The Australian channel SBS had originally scheduled to air the series in July 2005, but it was canceled, reportedly in light of the London bombings. It was ultimately aired in December, followed by Peter Taylor's The New Al-Qaeda under the billing of a counter-argument to Curtis.

In April 2005, Curtis expressed interest in an official DVD release due to a significant demand by viewers, but noted that his usual montage technique created serious legal problems with getting such a release secured. An unofficial DVD release was made in the quarterly DVD magazine Wholphin over a period of three issues.

Reactions

The aggregation of critics on Rotten Tomatoes has given The Power of Nightmares an 86% approval rating, securing it the positive certification of "fresh", while the average critic rating from MetaCritic was a "generally favorable" 78 of 100. User ratings on the Internet Movie Database have also been favorable, ranking the film at 9.2 out of 10. Adam Curtis was quoted in May 2005 as saying that 94% of e-mails to the BBC in response to the film were supportive.

Progressive news site Common Dreams had a highly positive response to the film and compared it to the "red pill" of the Matrix series, a comparison Curtis has apparently appreciated. Commentary in the Village Voice was also mostly favorable, noting "As partisan filmmaking it is often brilliant and sometimes hilarious—a superior version of Syriana." Critical reaction from progressives was not universal: MediaLens criticized the film for failing to explore the role of big business in the situation it described.

The film was awarded a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in the category of "Best Factual Series" in 2005. Additional awards were given by the Director's Guild of Great Britain and the Royal Television Society.

Criticisms

Several critics in the United States slammed The Power of Nightmares as anti-American. David Asman noted on the film on FoxNews.com that "We wish we didn't have to keep presenting examples of how the European media have become obsessively anti-American. But they keep pushing the barrier, now to the point of absurdity." His views were shared by Clive Davis, concluding his commentary on the film for conservative bi-weekly magazine The National Review with "British producers, hooked on Chomskyite visions of "Amerika" as the fount of all evil, are clearly not interested in even beginning to dig for the truth." An article on CBN.com linked the film to an alleged Islamist-liberal alliance formed by "hatred of America, capitalism, and Israel."

Other observers variously described the films as pushing a conspiracy theory or being generally out of touch with reality. Davis and British commentator David Aaronovitch both explicitly labeled the film's message as a conspiracy theory, with the latter saying of Curtis "his argument is as subtle as a house-brick." Attacks in this vein continued after the 7 July 2005 London bombings, with CBN referencing the film as a source for claims by the "British left" that "the U.S. War on Terror was a fraud" and the Australia Israel & Jewish Affairs Council calling it "the loopiest, most extreme antiwar documentary series ever sponsored by the BBC." In The Shadows in the Cave Curtis took the time to stress that he did not completely discount the possibility of any terrorist activity taking place, and responded to accusations of creating a conspiracy theory that he believes that the alleged use of fear as a force in politics is not the result of a conspiracy but rather the subjects of the film "have stumbled on it."

Peter Bergen, writing for the left wing magazine The Nation, offered a detailed critique of the film. Bergen wrote that even if al-Qaeda is not as organized as the Bush Administration stresses, it is still a very dangerous force due to the fanaticism of its followers and the resources available to bin Laden. His own comment on Curtis's claim that al-Qaeda was legally invented by the Americans is "This is nonsense. There is substantial evidence that Al Qaeda was founded in 1988 by bin Laden and a small group of like-minded militants, and that the group would mushroom into the secretive, disciplined organization that implemented the 9/11 attacks." Bergen further claimed that in fact Curtis's arguments serve as a defense of Bush's failure to capture bin Laden in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and his ignoring warnings of a terror attack prior to September 11th. He also challenged Curtis's claims on the influence of Leo Strauss on Neo-Conservatism.

References

  1. "Transcript: The Power of Nightmares - Part 1". DaanSpeak.com. Retrieved 2007-06-20.
  2. "Transcript: The Power of Nightmares - Part 2". DaanSpeak.com. Retrieved 2007-06-20.
  3. ^ "Transcript: The Power of Nightmares - Part 3". DaanSpeak.com. Retrieved 2007-06-20.
  4. ^ Koehler, Robert. Neo-Fantasies and Ancient Myths: Adam Curtis on The Power of Nightmares. Cinema Scope Issue 23.
  5. ^ Adams, Tim. The Exorcist. The Observer, The Guardian, 2004-10-24. Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
  6. Curtis, Adam. Power of Nightmares music. BBC News, 2005-01-24. Retrieved on 2007-06-18.
  7. Beckett, Andy (2004-10-15). "The making of the terror myth". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-06-06.
  8. The Power of Nightmares: The Shadows In The Cave. BBC News, 2005-01-14. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  9. All the Films - Festival 2005. Festival-cannes.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  10. Cannes to screen BBC's Nightmares. BBC News, 2005-04-22. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  11. ^ The film US TV networks dare not show. The Guardian, 2005-05-12. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  12. Films 2005. Truefalse.org. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  13. "So True." Inside the Slash, Columbia Daily Tribune, 2005-03-01. Retrieved on 2007-06-06
  14. Films/The Power of Nightmares; The Rise of the Politics of Fear. Seattle International Film Festival. Retrieved on 2007-06-18.
  15. Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear, The. San Francisco Film Society. Retrieved on 2007-06-18.
  16. Thomson, David. "Secret Histories". San Francisco Film Society. Retrieved on 2007-06-18.
  17. The Power of Nightmares. The Passionate Eye, CBC News. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  18. What's On - Documentary Series: The Power of Nightmares. SBS Online. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  19. The Power of Nightmares. Yourdemocracy.net, 2005-10-08. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  20. ^ Fleischer, Tzvi (August 2005). "Scribblings: Conspiracy Theories". The Review. AIJAC. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
  21. What's On - Cutting Edge Terrorism Special. SBS Online. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  22. ^ Curtis, Adam. Power of Nightmares re-awakened. BBC News, 2005-04-26. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  23. Issue 2: Spring 2006. Wholphindvd.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  24. Issue 3: Fall 2006. Wholphindvd.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  25. Issue 4: Spring 2007. Wholphindvd.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  26. The Power of Nightmares. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  27. Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear, The. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2007-06-12.
  28. The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear (2004). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  29. Hartmann, Thom. Hyping Terror For Fun, Profit - And Power. Common Dreams, 2004-12-07. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  30. Hoberman, J. The Phantom Menace. The Village Voice, 2005-12-06. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  31. The Power of Nightmares - Adam Curtis Responds. MediaLens.org, 2004-12-07. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  32. Bafta TV Awards 2005: The winners. BBC News, 2005-04-17. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  33. Top UK directors award for Kinsey. BBC News, 2005-03-20. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  34. RTS Programme Awards 2004. Royal Television Society. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
  35. Asman, David (2004-10-20). "Anti-American Europeans". FoxNews.com. Fox News. Retrieved 2007-06-12.
  36. ^ Davis, Clive (2004-10-21). "The Power of Bad Television". National Review Online. The National Review. Retrieved 2007-06-06.
  37. ^ Hurd, Dale. "How Leftists Aid Radical Islam". CBN.com. CBN News. Retrieved 2007-06-29.
  38. Aaronovitch, David (2004-10-19). "Al-Qaida is no dark illusion". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-06-06.
  39. Bergen, Peter (2005-06-02). "Beware the Holy War". The Nation. p. 3. Retrieved 2007-06-29.
  40. Bergen, Peter (2005-06-02). "Beware the Holy War". The Nation. p. 5. Retrieved 2007-06-29.
  41. Bergen, Peter (2005-06-02). "Beware the Holy War". The Nation. p. 2. Retrieved 2007-06-29.

External links

Documentaries by Adam Curtis
Films
Series
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