HyperNormalisation

Chillingly accurate.

My Curtis is probably the most accurate - devastating documentarist I've ever seen.

I think Mr Curtis' ouvre is a visual record on part with the witness of Malcolm Gladwell, and though they're interests differ,, these 2 are supporters of the tent poles which hold us up - personally and as a race.

Watching, I find it difficult to not watch, but, for every brake in his narrative, I'm almost fearful to continue watching.

I've always said there's nothing more chilling than realty.

If you're sometime who wants to begin to understand, 'wtf is going on with this works and how had it happened?' here it is.

I don't want to say to much, aside from this is truly the real 'Shock of the New (to borrow, from my favourite art historian essayist, and general bad boy, Robert Hughes).

At the core of this film is a message which I think we can all appreciate; that the world is complex and filled with diversity but at the same time we are encouraged by our media, hobbies, and politicians, to believe it is much more black/white, and not to expose ourselves to views that contrast with our own. This is not new unfortunately – the politics of the right/wrong is everywhere, and the echo chambers of Twitter, CNN, Fox, and many other "people who liked this also liked these" type tools – it is pretty clear where we are. How we got here is more interesting, and there are worse ways to explore it than to allow Adam Curtis to have a run at explaining it.

The way he does it here is as compelling and confusing and frustrating and flawed as one would imagine; it really succeeds in making some of his other work look like the tightest factual presentation ever. In almost three hours we explore the story by touching on Gaddafi, Ayatollah Khomeini, the internet, politics, Donald Trump, 1970's Russian sci-fi; the Arab spring; perception management, drugs, Brexit, UFO conspiracies, Twitter, and so on. Often the links are tenuous, but Curtis structures it really cleverly – we are given chunks of facts in a presentation that makes sense, and as a result we accept the links even as they jump countries and decades.

The downside is that many will be turned off because this is polemic incorrectly presented as a documentary. It is not the latter but as the former it works very well. Although it runs to almost 3 hours, I did not find it boring, but rather found it quite compelling in its message and the manner in which it is presented. The strength of the film to me was not that it convinces in every word, or that I agreed with it wholly but rather that it gave me plenty to think about. It helps that I am old enough to remember many of these events – to have seen the shifting political allegiances, to experience the moments, and to feel like they were not organic in all cases.

HyperNormalization is a niche film – it did not even make it not a BBC channel but rather was put on the streaming service directly. It is not as smart as it wants to, but it is engaging and interesting whether you agree with all of its assertions or not.

HyperNormalisation is a film about the Western media conditioning and the complexities of it. What makes Adam Curtis so strong here is his tone of voice. He states complex observations about politics and media as facts, weaponizing visual media to critique visual media. By making such a complicated -- polarizing -- documentary in such a straight-forward, expository, way he allows audiences to be lead down a rabbit hole of sorts.

Whether or not we as an audience agree with individual pieces and arguments within this film, it's impossible to ignore that Curtis is using the tools, tone, and legitimization (thank you BBC) of the "brainwasher" to brainwash audiences against brainwashing, and to stimulate critical thought. These clever tricks makes this one of the best documentaries ever made, as it continually challenges the viewer's intelligence and perception of the world. There are many documentaries that make more factual, easy-to-prove arguments -- but this film does not intend to do that. Instead, HyperNormalisation challenges the audience with a 3 hour barrage of questions, often stated in the form of answers. How Curtis arrives at these answers creates one of the most thought-provoking films of the 21st century. The point is to not accept Curtis's sometimes shaky (perhaps only in the interest of keeping the runtime down, perhaps not) arguments as facts, but rather to consider them. If you are looking for a simple documentary that is easily proven factually true, this is not it. In fact, HyperNormalisation seems to suggest that form of documentary may not exist.

This film is not an answer, but a question. If you disagree with Curtis, read some books and articles and prove him wrong on your own, if you can. Either way you'll be a better and more educated person for watching this film. HyperNormalisation takes more than it's already 2 and half hour runtime to watch. I paused, researched, and questioned the entire time. HyperNormalisation requires fact checking and educating oneself on aspects of world politics restricted from mainstream thought, and asking questions about the "answers" he provides. Whether a deranged conspiracy theorist or one of the greater minds of the 21st century is up to the viewer, but either way Adam Curtis successfully challenges his audience with this film. Though I don't fully agree with everything put forth in this film, I have to admit that more and more about HyperNormalisation rings true to me in the present day than when it was created. Thank you Curtis for making me think about the world in this way.

Oh, and the soundtrack is incredible. : - )

Adam again used his deconstructivist style in order to reach the un-result leaving the viewer mesmerized and perplexed by what s/he should hold as truth in this world. The soundtrack of the documentary is similar to his previous documentary "Bitter Lake" with the acid music and also the colors in the movie are really sharp with raw footage that are unedited maybe to reflect the real world he's trying to unravel to the laymen. Again, he blames the finance men for the troubles that are happening around the world and also the politicians who gave up their powers to them by letting them have more than it is supposed to be. However, he has some inaccuracies in terms of some cases especially to what is happening in the Arab world. In other words, he may have even fallen in the perception management that he described in his documentary. In general, his documentary is mind opening to question the reality that is surrounding us.

With a £30k budget and an amazing flair for story-telling, the director takes us on a journey through post-WW2 history and the circumstances as to why we are in this disillusioned state so many political agendas seem to be supporting.

This is great viewing and really gets you to think hard about the issues that matter: nothing can truly be explained by a 140-character tweet and that's exactly the problem: the world is too interlinked and complex to be understood via superficial analysis nor poetic slogans.

We need to collectively understand the deeper issues at hand, and find the solution that deals at source - building walls, imperial slogans, bigotry and racist knee-jerk responses are not the way

Peace