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reviews by Dr. John Ruhland
Documentaries Among Year's Best
Two of the best political films of the past year are truly outstanding
documentaries: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, an Australian
release, and Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War, which has
been screened around the country by the peace group MoveOn.org.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised was filmed by a crew that was
making a documentary on the very popular and democratically elected
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. The US-assisted attempted coup took
place while the crew was filming in the presidential mansion.
The Venezuelan media, with the exception of the single government-run
channel, is owned by the wealthy minority of the country. In the
documentary, the corporate media is shown to blatantly alter news in
order to try to support the coup.
A similar film, the 1975 documentary film about the CIAÕs overthrow of
President Salvador Allende, entitled The Battle of Chile, by Patricio
Guzman, is one of my picks for the list of top political movies of all
time. I would put The Revolution Will Not Be Televised just ahead of
that film on my list. The newer film is better because it is both
succinct and complete. For more information on Revolution, see the
filmÕs webpage at
www.chavezthefilm.com/html/backgrd/bolivar.htm.
The film Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War, was screened on
Sunday, December 7 across the country by MoveOn.org. I attended a
screening for which 25 people had signed up. About three times that many
people attended. It was inspiring and enjoyable to watch as a group. We
had several good laughs, despite the serious nature of the film. After
the film, we had a long discussion. Multiply that number of people by
over 2,000 separate screenings that took place that day, and to this
number add many screenings on following days, and you get an idea how
many people are now well-educated on BushÕs lies about Iraq having
weapons of mass destruction. For more information and reviews of the
movie, or to order an inexpensive copy of the film, go to
www.truthuncovered.com.
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