Surplus: Terrorized Into Being Consumers

this is a very brilliantly made documentary. there are more than one narratives going at once, streaming to you in a cleverly cut together fashion, which normally juxtaposes what is being said to what the opposite is.

for those who say this film is like a music video rather than a documentary, all i can say is that you don't get it. the fashion and rhythmic style of the editing is not to make it amusing but to hammer and retort on the style of consuming that exists today. that is, to repeatedly go back and back and back and back to the same product and consumer goods to feed feed feed feed our structured likes/wants/needs from advertising from a completely absorbing imperialistic consumer society.

with that said, if that made sense to you, you too would enjoy this documentary; it changed the way i looked at life to an extent.

go watch this film. now.

This is without doubt one of the most convincing and impressive documentaries I have ever seen. It is very in-your-face and not subtle, and you might not agree with the message (consumerism is bad), but anyone would have to admit that this film is very, very well made.

It's form is highly original. For example, there's a quick montage of the world's leaders (Bush, Blair, Poetin, Chirac etc.), who's voices have been erased, and replaced by a new one, literally 'putting words in their mouths'. Great!

And I should mention the editing, which is in accordance with the images and music. The whole film playes like a musical piece, with repeting themes, set-ups and climaxes.

For the original form alone, you should see this when you have the chance. Even when you think capitalism is okay.

The critics of this film are right to criticize it for being light on information, compelling arguments, and data backing up its claims. The film focuses more on style and visual appeal, and as someone who watches hours of drab, informative, sterile activist videos, progressive films, and leftist propaganda each week, this film was a total breath of fresh air. If you want the facts, watch one of the thousands of great films out there that give you all the research and information you need... visit the media education foundation or read some chomsky. This film may have chosen style over substance, but for me, it had enough style to get away with it. Even for someone who hates property destruction and disagrees with the philosophies of violent opposition that this film promotes, I welcomed this film. 99% of what I see every day is all-style and no-substance and backs agendas I disagree with. At least this film presents a fresh and alternative opinion.

A very unusual documentary about consumerism. I prefer

statistics-filled, dry, just-throw-the-facts-at-me types of

documentaries. I find most of Michael Moore's humor distracting to his

main points, for example. This film uses a variety of techniques to

appeal to emotions.

For instance, it uses a sometimes annoying, sometimes surprisingly

effective tactic of repeating sound bites. The footage ranges from

protests to interviews. Footage includes a Cuban teen's reactions to

visiting McDonalds, to European homeless people, to Microsoft's Steve

Ballmer dancing around screaming to motivate Windows programmers at a

conference. It's truly unusual, but despite my preference for "drier"

more fact-oriented documentaries, I found this unusual emotion-appeal

film quite enjoyable and effective. That surprised me; perhaps it will

you too?

It was quite a good movie actually, very well put together visually. I would have liked to see more dialogue and maybe a bit more debate going down. Basically what it was a depiction of John Zerzan's claim for a huge dismantling project of consumerism and everything that goes with it. In a way Zerzan (who you can gather is an anarchist, or has anarchist tendencies) is a bit idealistic, he wants us to return to a hunter/gatherer society where everyone lives in peace and happiness.

The doccy has images of loads of speeches (Bush after 9/11, mike Balmer (Microsoft), Blair, Fidel Castro, and loads of others). and includes one (my favourite) where bush goes: "We must not let the terrorists scare people... to the extent where they don't shop." it's brilliantly cut with music and other visuals.

The movie has a bit of a music video feel to it, but that makes it even more "enjoyable", it makes it a bit more accessible to some people who don't really know about protests and wat-have-you. One memorable part was where you have the head of Adbusters speaking, and the visuals are all the hot shot corporates and presidents who are "synched" to his words, brilliantly done!

Another striking thing was where you had Fidel Castro speaking, and he is going on about how Cubans are free and have true democracy and true choice and then they cut to a scene in a shop where there are only about 3 different kinds of shoes and how they ration food and this one chick who went to Europe who was blown away by the bright lights, big city and fast food.

Then it swings back to Zerzan who goes justifies the use of violence at protests infused with images of protests outside G8 meetings. Visually, a brilliant movie, and although I don't agree with a few of Zerzan's means or ends, I do agree the problem(s) he highlights. Politically, also brilliant as it makes the problems easily accessible to the average person who might not know that much about stuff, while I never felt "oh yeah, I know that s***, yawn" even if you don't feel like checking it as a "message movie", the part where they interview sex doll manufacturers is quite funny.

I'd definitely recommend surplus.