Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times

'If you want to stop terrorism, then stop initiating it and participating in it.' So says the irrepressible Noam Chomsky, who takes U.S. power brokers to task in this film when they pretend that everybody ELSE engages in terrorism, but not them.

I'm slightly biased, because I would pay to hear Noam Chomsky read a menu. He is sublimely interesting despite his low-key manner. But, as others have noted on this board, this film is not exactly his finest hour. It's disjointed and a little unfocused. He shifts back and forth from California to Boston and the Bronx. Since he gives countless lectures around the world in a given year, it's not surprising that the venues would change so frequently.

What makes Chomsky so unique is that he lays out his arguments like a stone-mason lays stone -- each idea follows from the other. His theses are so well-ordered, thoughtful and profoundly articulate (befitting a linguist, he uses precise and powerful words) that he is difficult to refute, which is a major reason why he's officially more or less persona-non-grata in the mainstream media. There are very few pundits who relish the opportunity to challenge Chomsky. He really does know whereof he speaks. His encyclopedic memorization of data from actual government records (some going back hundreds of years) are things to behold.

It matters little to me that he's not a so-called 'dynamic' speaker. He doesn't need to be. He's much more persuasive using soft and often witty techniques to indict monopoly capitalism and the illusion of democracy.

What this film shows quite clearly is that Chomsky is not anti-American or a gloomy pessimist, two charges regularly levelled against him by his opponents. He cares more about his country than most of those loud, cartoonish Americans who think wrapping themselves in the flag is the ultimate display of patriotism. Chomsky is a regular messenger of optimism and hope; he doesn't hide behind pillars of doom. He tells people constantly to resist, to never capitulate to lies and propaganda, to return America to the democratic control of the people. As he has said many times, it's all up to us.

I'll admit up front that I'm a Chomsky fan and it is always wonderful to listen to this man speak. Having read many of his political books he didn't say anything that I didn't already know, but I still enjoy watching footage of his lectures because I don't have the chance to attend any. As he always does, Chomsky delivers straight forward, common sense deciphering of the events unfolding around us in easy to understand words. Unfortunately however the film isn't edited all that well. Many times they show Chomsky ending his lectures and the film feels like it is going to end. Then it starts up again at another lecture. I think 'Manufacturing Consent' was much more successful in the way they edited his various lectures together.

I got into Chomsky in a big way in the past year, with his 9-11 book and then reading his older stuff. I saw a documentary on TV in Canada called "Noam Chomsky: Rebel Without A Pause" which I thoroughly enjoyed. So when I saw this film advertised in Vancouver I went to check it out when I was there and was thoroughly disappointed. For a film that is playing in the theatres, this seemed sloppy and poorly done. Its Chomsky giving a lecture for a while, Chomsky in an interview, and Chomsky giving another lecture. Meanwhile there is some Japanese pop music which makes no sense at all and seems to come from nowhere. Chomsky really just talks about September 11th and that the US did things elsewhere and before that lead to this horrible event. "Rebel Without A Pause" is a much better and more in-depth look at Chomsky's views (including Iraq which "Power and Terror" doesn't mention). "Rebel Without A Pause" also looks at Chomsky the man as seen through his wife Carol Chomsky who also manages him

(which she tells in a great story as to how that little relationship came about) and through the eyes of other people who know him. "Power and Terror" just seems like a lazy attempt to cash in on Chomsky's new celebrity in a post-September 11th world. Skip this film and try and get "Noam Chomsky: Rebel Without A Pause" if you want to learn a lot about several relevant topics and more about Chomsky as a person.

`In Our Times' was an odd experience. I mean, who would have thought that a venture to view a film screening of a college professor giving a college lecture would or could draw a crowd on the celluloid screen?

Well, I went and did that and experienced the genius of Noam Chomsky. I even walked away with some positive thoughts about the future of the United States of America and the global network of nation states. I saw a hope, that maybe there is a nibble of survival of our US society and that of the world, if we all listen and speak out against tremendous odds of failure in directing our own country(s) in its governance -- which we symbolically call democracy.

I felt a very optimistic future that I can be a part of and which can change the workings of the US government and things evil -- that often takes a path of its own and much in the design of a dictatorship that give lip service to its subjects.

This Japanese film was wonderful.

Yet, I cannot rate it on a scale of 1-10.

The future is with the people of the world to make democracy work

This particular documentary is not the greatest one to recommend for pleasurable viewing. It is basically 74 minutes of Chomsky speaking. He is a quiet man and not a great speaker, but what he has to say is very important.

Lately, his position is to questioning how the U.S. can be engaged in a "war on terrorism" when the mountains of civilian corpses we've left in Southeast Asia, Central America, the Mideast, and western Africa qualify our most sanctimonious of nations as Champion Terror-Monger.

His grasp of the facts and ability to recall information and present it in a fashion that all can understand serves to recommend this as a valuable 74 minutes to listen, learn, and ponder.