The Untold History of the United States

For the history buffs and those interested in a less partisan view of U.S. History, that's not always completely told in our school history books, I highly recommend Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States.

History itself, and memories in general, inherit the bias of the observer. Further retelling, teaching, and writing of the event also serve to inject patriotism, nationalism, bias and opinion into the mix. This documentary series does well to attempt to strip out all of that, and to see the gray beyond just the black and white.

The show looks and sounds like the history shows we all grew up on in school. This should be known going into it, it is not an enthralling Oliver Stone dramatic movie, but it is well produced. For those interested in the subject matter it will easily keep your attention. In fact it's often difficult to break away momentarily because the pacing of the imagery and information rarely has a lull.

What strikes me the most is that the negative reviews of the series actually confirm everything Stone wants to say.

The series is actually brilliant. The book might be even more brilliant. Yes, it is subjective. And yes, it focuses on certain issues more than other issues. And that's because human beings are subjective; history is written and examined by human beings. On the other hand, the series -- and the book-- say right out from the start that this is not the complete history, it's only the part that people don't hear about. That's why it doesn't concentrate on 'other views' or the 'other side' of what it says. Add to that, film is a form of art. And this is the difference art can make when it deals with history.

The series does, in 99% of the cases, state facts very clearly and don't see events and people in black and white. And I have come to believe that people who accuse material of being propaganda are the very victims of propaganda. They are those who want to paint the whole world in one brush and put label on people, things, countries, races, ideas, etc. as 'good' and 'bad.' Personally, I think that is the definition of intellectual terrorism.

I never knew how little I really knew about our American history until I found out everything that I didn't know. I thought maybe I was just being paranoid about some capitalist conspiracy to exploit and oppress the masses for personal gain or some distorted need for power and control. Even if only 10% of Stone's history was actually true, It turns out that what I thought was already bad enough was just the tip of the iceberg. The fact that 100% may be true is simply horrifying.

This series is absolutely riveting and magnificently written. I found myself repeatedly rewinding to make sure I caught every ounce of information packed into each episode. My only issue with the entire series was I found Oliver Stone's narration very distracting -- his pregnant pauses and melodramatic delivery sounded to me like William Shatner doing a riff of William Shatner as James T Kirk. Nevertheless, this should be required viewing by all Americans, especially in an election year.

Interesting how most of the negative reviews come from America or countries that do not suffer this "intervention." Cause here in Latin America, no need to tell us. We saw it. We saw an arrogant policy that for years it was believed that he had the right to overthrow democratically elected presidents and replacing them with dictators. Today we know that the tortures were applied during the dictatorship methods taught by the CIA. This is not a theory, documents prove it. And just as I know that the vast majority of Americans politicized are / were against it, I'd like others to at least open their eyes so that it never happens again. Your freedom should not mean the enslavement of others. I leave a loving hug to all Americans who know that. Cause you were as much victims as we went.

If you want to know the real truth about WWII and not the "US is the greatest country in the world who saved the universe" propaganda, then see this film. I'm a Veteran, so I don't get the blind patriotism or the refusal to accept the truth. As I served, just like my father, grandfather, etc and yet, I don't feel a need to excuse the lies we've been fed. So I'm amazed at how people refuse the truth and just accept whatever the 1% running this country has always fed us. Despite the fact that these people aren't a part of the 1%. They still defend their actions. Wake up! The footage is there. The audio, the video, how anyone can deny the US global domination agenda is beyond me. I knew the truth before this film as I have been researching history from more reliable sources and non-biased sources long before I saw this film. It just shocks me to see people fully accepting our version and not verifying anything.