The End of America

I'm not a huge documentary fan. Having seen my fair share of docs back in the mid to late '90s and then on into the '00s, I become quite interested but my interest cooled off for a considerable amount of time. Then I stumbled upon this and I say it is really an eye opener; how it portrays a nation, that at once whose values of freedom from oppression and tyranny is now heading down that same dark path that has tainted Europe and Asia. I never in my life expected to be so outraged and angry at what our country is becoming. If we are to stand against the tyranny that is seeping into our American society, then you as well as the rest of America owe it to themselves to watch this documentary. The very essence of the values of America and freedom are at stake.

You cannot judge any president or leaders based on sound bites, which can be misconstrued and manipulated. However, the movie makers make some good points that will make you think. The testimonies of various individuals are at times heart rending and frightening. There can be no doubt that our country is going through a political and societal shift, in terms of the level of control, erosion of privacy, and changes in legislation that have effected our every day lives. However, can we really tell what is true and what is not based on the media? One should not negate any trend of thought without checking out the facts. At the same time, you should keep your eyes and ears open and READ. Which, if this documentary accomplishes encourages us to do that, than in my opinion, the mission is accomplished.

I am a regular traveller to the US and love it a great deal as a place to be, but one thing about it that often strikes me is how polarised and segregated it can be along racial and political lines – the UK is pretty bad in the same way but is brilliant by comparison. Reading the reviews of this film shows more of the same – reviews are either 10* or 1* reviews and the actual text reveal a similar approach. I'm not looking to criticise other amateur reviewers but this does smack of reviewers coming to the film with their minds already made up. This is a real shame but it is not to be a surprise. Primarily any film that gives a platform to Wolf is hardly going to appeal to the right, or even the right-leaning viewer. On top of that a film that seems to be about the comparison of Bush with Hitler is one that is going to quickly polarise even viewers who may only "lean" one way or the other because, when you call a world leader Hitler, there is not a lot of room for standing on the fence.

Of course this is not what the film is doing but those instinctively in disagreement with it will be unable to get passed this and the film doesn't quite manage to deliver the "lessons from history" without making it sound like a direct comparison. This is a real shame because there is nothing wrong with looking towards the mistakes of the past in trying to do things differently now. Wolf delivers ten things that "closing societies" have in common and uses these ten things as discussion points to look at the impingements on personal freedom that were done during the Bush era. These ten aspects are 1) Invoke internal and external threat; 2) Secret prisons where torture takes place; 3) Develop a paramilitary force; 4) Surveillance on ordinary citizens; 5) infiltrate citizens' groups; 6) detain and release citizens; 7) target key individuals; 8) Restrict the press; 9) recast criticism as espionage and treason; 10) subvert the rule of law.

On all of these Wolf presents an interesting and rather chilling look at the modern political landscape. She discusses in each step how the Bush administration have done more or less what other "closing societies" have done. Does she ever say that the US was heading towards a dictatorship with Bush on the road to becoming a modern Hitler? No, she doesn't but, to be fair, given that the suggestion is unavoidable by virtue of the structure of her presentation she could have done a bit more to stress that she is not saying that but rather just using history as a way of learning. Had she done this better perhaps the film wouldn't feel like it is only preaching to the choir.

While she makes good parallels even the choir will acknowledge that some of her points are a real stretch though. For ever clear point about the utilisation of fear and threats, there is a weaker one like the targeting of key people. This point made me laugh because of the links she makes – talking about the Dixie Chicks seems trivial compared to historical "targeting". Likewise some of her other points appear to be reaching as well, the "restrict the press" point produced my favourite line where she talks about the Cheney "threat" on the editor of the NY Times – she says "what immediately comes to mind" is the trial of a Russian journalist by Stalin. Really? That "immediately" comes to mind does it!? Although Wolf doesn't always justify the links to history, her presentation still does do a good job of presenting a general erosion of civil liberties. I would say I agreed with her on all of them but all of her points are food for thought and I cannot really relate to those viewers who can watch this and simply dismiss it 100% out of hand and don't see anything worth thinking about.

The End of America is overly leftist and doesn't work hard enough to take the political tension out of the discussion but it is still a very interesting film that does serve as food for thought. OK some of the historical parallels don't really work that well but the points raised about the modern situation are engaging and chilling. Not good enough to draw in a wider audience and convince those that go into the film pitched against it but still an engaging film whether you accept it all or not.

I will come out and be totally honest: I'm not a fan of politics. They annoy me, and too much drama comes out of it. That being said, I was relatively shocked to find out the new documentary, End of America, is quite engrossing. Based on Naomi Wolf's NY Times Bestseller, the film takes a page from Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and splits up lectures with gritty footage and informative interviews. Yes, the film takes a side, but it's a side that everyone can relate to. The film does do a good enough job not to completely bash President Bush or anyone specifically, but simply the system as a whole. EoA explains how the 2001 Patriot Act has limited American civil liberties and what we can do to not only recognize the problem but how to combat it. A highly intriguing film, End of America's message is more important than one might think.

This movie is so interesting in that it was directed at the Bush administration, but the message relates to any president, including Obama. The real thing that Naomi is getting across is that we need to protect our constitutional rights. If you look at what is going on right now in the U.S., we need to watch the Obama administration too. Capital gains taxes going from 22 percent to 35 percent will kill capitalism, free trade, and the American dream. No one will be able to open a small business, and other small businesses will have to shut down, and these are our main job creators. This goes without even talking about the one trillion dollars that we are about to spend, half of which is not even intended to stimulate the economy, but to fulfill special interest democratic agendas. The redistribution of wealth will ultimately turn us to a socialist mindset, and possibly a socialist country. Additionally, when this one trillion is distributed, many economists are agreeing that people are realizing that this is a one time thing, so they will put it away and save it. When companies receive more revenue during "stimulus" time, they are realizing that "hey, it's just the stimulus" and will not hire more employees or expand their business. Here is the best part... When the economy recovers, all of this money that people are receiving and putting away will start to emerge, and then, duh duh duh, INFLATION! This is basic economics, just pick up an economics book and I bet it's in the first five chapters. I am not saying that this WILL happen, and I definitely want our country to get out of this mess and succeed. I am simply reiterating what Naomi was trying to get across, and that is that we need to protect our precious constitutional rights and watch our government as closely as possible no matter who is in office.