Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times

`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 film did little to advance an idea of Chomsky as a person, or even to interestingly frame any of his ideas. It provided no thesis or direction and was satisfied instead to aim the camera at the man as he travelled college campuses speaking to audiences. It seemed to be little more than one man and a handycam, which is fine in principle, but, in this case anyway, terrible in practice. If it weren't for the thoroughly compelling nature of the man himself and his views, I would consider this an utter waste of time.

I went to this movie expecting something similar to "Manufacturing Consent", which took Chomsky interviews and interspliced them with interesting film clips to create a compelling film about the power of the Media to shape our perception of the world. Instead what we get is one Chomsky lecture after another interspliced with a Japanese rock song.

Chomsky is not the most dynamic speaker at the best of times, and he is getting older (he's 73) and speaks slower and even more monotone. What he has to say is still some the most revealing and bravest ideas expressed in the United States by an American about the extreme hypocrisy of the U.S. government's foreign policy. But I've heard it all before, Nicaragua, Vietnam, North Korea, that's old news, albeit import pre cursors to events such as 9-11, but this is hardly touched upon, which is what I was hoping to hear.

My biggest complaint with Chomsky is that he is preaching to the converted and the reason for this revealed in the film. He disagrees with the idea of confronting power with the truth because he feels they already know the truth and therefore it's a waste of time. However, talking endlessly to college students who all agree with what you are saying anyway is just as much a waste of time. It's more of the typical academic intelectual masturbation. For once I'd love to Chomsky in a debate with some articulate right wing person and see him dismantle him/her with his obvious intelligence and encyclopedic memory. Alas, until this happens, it's just more of the same, and a waste.

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.

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.