coldsnout

I give this film three stars because that's about how many true statements it contains. But firstly, this director uses the same psychological machinations that the latest president's political consultants used to get him elected - cognitive dissonance (tension which comes from holding two conflicting or unconnected thoughts in the mind at the same time). The images on the screen hold very little or no reinforcement of what the narrator is saying, and usually distracts from the point. They do, however, reinforce multitudinous snide innuendos.

I could only absorb what was said by not watching the screen, but only listening. Listening was made difficult because the music (also distracting and irrelevant) was way too loud. In order to hear the narratives, you have to turn up the volume and put up with ear-splitting music apparently also designed to enhance the dissonance.

The "meat" of the film is that there are cycles in society which lead to war, peace, prosperity and change. Guess which one we're in. This doomsday presentation traces all the blame to a US generation that is easy to make fun of, with no tenable connection, for the debt and inflation explosion at the inevitable disaster. I've not read all the books by the scholars interviewed, but I'm familiar enough with the liberal organizations they associate themselves with. Economics is the result of more than just opinions, but productivity, creativity and policy. They correctly point out the flaws in the recent (post 2008) desperate machinations of the Fed and US Treasury, but offer no solutions, evasive actions we may take, or even useful warnings.

I found tongue-in-cheek humor in the images that flash continuously past the viewer. Some, like a flash of suckling piglets on a sow's abdomen or the many scenes of exploding buildings, appear so ridiculous in view of the narration that if you turned off the sound, this could be an entertaining film.

Expect to be alarmed, depressed and confused by this film, not enlightened or edified.