Amerika

We (my Dad and I) taped the AMERIKA miniseries on its premiere air dates and I'm so glad we did. I've read a couple reviews here at IMdB that claim this milestone is boring. I believe they are misinterpreting the decided communist slant of this production. The production seems off-kilter because of it is presented through "a weary and wintry Russian eye", which might be compared to the powerless angst of the Russian characters of the Dr. Zhivago film. The characters are all doomed to communism and it's fascinating to view their ways of coping. Kristofferson and Urich are both powerhouses in this vein. My favorite theme is the outlawing of sentimental media, my favorite scene when Mariel Hemingway attends the illegal performance of "The Fantasticks". Shades of George Orwell's "1984", about a communist state where things that are illegal for the masses are allowed (but not admittedly) for the elite party members. So I say "God Bless AMERIKA". I think I'll watch it again next week.

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 was too young to have viewed this movie when it originally aired, but my parents taped it and for some reason kept it around for thirteen years. I finally decided to give it a whirl, thinking it would be an adaptation of the Franz Kafka story (I know, I know.....). This was my first mistake.

My second mistake was actually watching the thing at all. At 870 minutes, this makes the 10-hour "The 10th Kingdom" seem like a short subject by comparison, yet the whole thing could have easily been pared down by half without compromising the storyline. Why? Simple: the plot is pathetic. You would think that by 1987 people would have realized the Soviet Union was NEVER going to take over the U.S., but I guess someone forgot to tell writer-director Donald Wrye, since he insists on rehashing the tired old "communist subversion" schtick that went out -- and deservedly so -- in the mid-60s. The dialogue is corny and hackneyed and seems to begin repeating itself at the halfway mark, while the direction is uninspired (although pretty much average by TV movie standards). Sam Neill manages to maintain his dignity in this midst of all this nonsense, but everyone else comes out looking as silly as the film itself.

By itself, "Amerika" is harmless piffle that, if nothing else, would make a good double bill with "Dr. Strangelove," which so effectively manages to ridicule and ultimately destroy the reactionary plot. But the ideology behind the story, and the reactions it has inspired among some of my fellow IMDb reviewers, is completely idiotic, almost frightening. The series' ultimate and highly questionable message is that we should remain ever vigilant against the communist threat, and that it will take any guise need be to bring down our society from within -- latter-day McCarthyism if I ever heard it. Thank goodness this 870-pound turkey is scarcely remembered today.

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.