Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy

The subject of Commanding Heights is the globalization of world trade in the 20th century. It does so in three-two hour installments. Part 1 shows how the world moved from market economies to planned economies and back to market economies in a century. Part 2 shows the impact, sometimes painful, of moving to market economies. Part 3 addresses the current and future problems of a globalized world. That's the structure. The brilliance here, and there is much, is how clearly, thoroughly, and excitingly the stories are told. This is not an economics lesson; this is high drama that impacts peoples lives. Commanding Heights shows that it is people who create the ideas, it is people who accept or reject them, it is people who profit or suffer by them. The series travels to the locations where events happened, and in many cases, interviews the people who made them happen, from Bill Clinton to Milton Friedman to workers in various countries. The pacing of the series is also excellent. It is amazing how many topics are covered in little time, yet, the pace does not seem rushed. Even if you have no interest in business, Commanding Heights is still fascinating to watch. There is also an accompanying website with background information on the history, people, and ideas presented. Commanding Heights is a triumph.

This movie is a prescribed study material in one of the courses at my b-school. Even though I was aware of general macro and micro-economic principles, I never thought much about the Economy in the political sense. This documentary drives home an important point: Economic policy is slave to politics.

I was totally taken aback by the number of examples and the extent of re-creating the scenarios that takes place. The soundtrack is really superb, which helps in no small measure. Inspired by Commanding Heights, I just finished reading Hayek's Road to Serfdom and it was a treat and an eye-opener to the thought-processes more than half a century back!

If you want to understand the world better, this movie comes a 10/10 recommended!

This was probably the best documentary I have ever seen.

Commanding Heights is a paced and exciting look at historical events of the last century with glasses of economic policy. The soundtrack and film clips are very good and really improves the experience. I was also very impressed with the quality of the interviewed (Bill Clinton, Margaret Tatcher, Jeffrey Sachs, Milton Friedman etc.) The film takes a close look at various nuances within a planned and market economy. And for those commenting that this is too pro-market - you must have missed the first two hours. The first episode made me more prone to Keynesian ideas than I was before.

Nevertheless, It is an excellent and fun documentary. You wont regret watching it and you will perhaps even feel slightly smarter.

Globalization is a polarizing topic. This documentary was made at a time obviously before the obvious nadir for free market economics of this year, 2008. With the fall of Lehmann Brothers, Bear Stearns, Chrysler, GM and the precarious situation of many other large conglomerates the hypotheses have been discredited slightly that have been presented here.

A new era is dawning as I write this. The cycles that have been depicted here in Part 1 are continuous and the "Austrian School" cycle is in its last days, in my humble opinion. This documentary shows, truthfully, how Keynesian economics was discredited and replaced in the Western Economies after the turbulent decade of the 1970s. What isn't mentioned is that several other western powers did not embrace the market-solutions of the USA and UK. France, Germany, Scandinavia and Japan all continued to follow certain Keynesian parameters. The miracles of Hayek-style solutions is portrayed with little counterbalancing examples of its negative sides.

PBS has really tried hard to give an extensive depiction of the development of globalization since the war. There was much here that I did not know before. The many interviews with Sachs, Clinton, Cheney, de Soto and numerous Heads of State or former Heads of State from Asia and Europe. However, the skew in favour of the process of globalisation is all too evident. Few dissenting opinions are detailed or extensively dealt with. The usual arguments of pulling several people out of poverty, and the industrialisation of the developing world are constantly reiterated to imply, cleverly, that globalisation is an irreversible and beneficial process to everyone. However, I am well versed in this topic, and my reading does not extend to Naomi Klein and Michael Moore, but the problems and difficulties that accompany globalisation are not really even hinted at in this documentary.

What this film shows is a good start. A good basis for knowledge for beginners about globalisation. However, my advise is get out and read, get out and discover. There are many issues left untouched in this documentary. It is amazingly interesting to look back at this film after the failures of the Bush administration and watch Richard Cheney say that few people have been harmed in the process of globalisation. We all know now that Cheney is not exactly someone who really has altruistic instincts as his core beliefs.

I'm giving this documentary 7 out of 10 because its technical quality and depth with the amount of information and many interviews. However, its rightward tilt slightly unnerved me. Yet it does deliver a rational argument, despite being incomplete, about the whole discussion that does dominate a lot of contemporary political debate. So watch it and start reading.

a see worthy documentary,a wonderful chronological research...In my opinion a man who is interested in the history of economics must see this documentary.Capitalism,Fascism,Bretton-Woods system,New Delhi,Thatcherism,Keynes vs.Hayek...if you are interested in these heroes and subjects you have to see.Also you may hear some very useful comments from Friedman's own speech.As an economics students I appreciate everyone who have contributed this wonderful masterpiece.And I could not understand why only about 80 persons voted for this movie.Is the science of economics and political history so boring and annoying. See it and appreciate me and the producers.