Amerika

I was very much into talk radio at the time this minis series was on.

It seemed that it offended everyone. The conservatives didn't think that ANY US president would ever just voluntarily turn over the country to the Soviets and liberals got pissed because the movie depicted the Soviets as using the United Nations as being complicit in the Soviet take over.

I thought that it was actually a very good fantasy story. The ONLY way the "Stars and Stripes" that we now see displayed EVERYWHERE could be displayed was in a flag that combined the US flag with the Soviet Hammer and Sickle Flag and the UN Crest. You should know that it was done during the Reagan Administration when Republicans were calling the Soviet Union the single biggest provider of EVIL in the history of Earth and Democrats were trying to make peace with them. Conservatives on the FAR right have long advocated our withdrawing from the UN and liberals have long been in favor of giving more and more precedence to the UN in world affairs.

I enjoyed Kris and Robert in it but my main recollection was how sexy Cindy Pickett was in it. SHE was Robert's wife and Kris's ex wife. THAT made for some interesting tension.

See if for yourself. With all the flaws you'll read about here it's still worth the time.

When this aired in 1987, I taped it but rapidly lost interest.

After reading the novelization, I re-watched this recently after discovering torrents of it on 3 DVD's at conspiracycentral.net. It was(to me)a very interesting concept. I liked the archetypes of the three main characters, and a few of the supporting cast. Unfortunately, it was undone by a horrible pace and far too many cardboard characters. Really, we didn't need to stop for 60-120 seconds every time someone says something "important", just to play dramatic music over a montage of people looking pensive.

At heart, I found it an interesting exercise in paranoid fantasy, undone by horrible direction.

For those of you folks who have wished for a modern version of this miniseries showing America under Sharia law, pick up "Prayers of the Assassin", a novel by Robert Ferrigno. It's even more unreadable than Amerika was unwatchable, but plays to paranoids just as well as this. I've seen it on a number of clearance tables at bookstores, so you folks shouldn't have much trouble getting a copy.

I taped this 17 years ago. Recently, I dusted off the tapes for a second look. This series is not an anti-Russian polemic as claimed by the critics of the time. Rather, it is an examination of what it is like to live in a defeated and occupied totalitarian country. I decided to watch it because what happened to us in this series is comparable to the experience of Iraq under US occupation. If anything, the Russians were much kinder to us in AMERIKA than we are to the Iraqis now.

Despondent as they were, the Americans of AMERIKA had a much greater appreciation for freedom than we do today. Today, we have lost much of our freedom, and we have done it to ourselves. For a glimpse of what is in store for us if we persist in our present course, watch AMERIKA.

While I was viewing this rare mini-series, I could not help thinking that it was definitely one of the best films I have ever seen. The plot was awesome, the characters were moving, and the acting was unbelievably exceptional.(Way to go Sam Neill, Robert Urich, Kris Kristofferson, and others!) However, I was a bit disappointed by the ending. A lot of conflicts that I hoped would be resolved were left open. This was a hard resolution to accept after watching about 12 hours of building suspense and anticipation.

Although I wish the ending would be different, this will still be one of my favorite films and it is really worth seeing. It would be impossible to ever again create a series even close to what this was.

I am one of the many of thousands who viewed the mini series Amerika and loved it. It was one of the most moving and realistic mini series I have ever seen, actually making one "believe" that we could be invaded by one of our enemies and how vunerable we all are. Since the initial viewing, I have been puzzled as to why it was never shown again, why it is not available in video stores and why half the population has never seen it.

Although parts of it are still vivid in my mind, I live to see it again. Many movies have been made but not with the power that this one relayed. Fantastic acting, realistic plot, awesome ending. It should be made available again, each and every year as with other mini series. I think any and all who have seen it would agree. I know my life stopped each night it aired as I lived in the film. My children were moved as any viewer had to be. We all needed to know that our country was as great as we believe it to be and it was. As a novelist, I believe the writers, as well as the actors all deserved to be nominated for an academy award.