Orwell Rolls in His Grave

This documentary is one of the most important documentaries of the first decade of the 2000's - yet the mainstream media and establishment "critics" give it 50% and less. It's astonishing, as the documentary addresses a multitude of problems, serious questions , indeed the _utmost_ serious basic _fundamentals_ of our entire existence in democratic societies: the very democracy and democratic principles of our society, free speech, access to media, how information is controlled and manipulated in our societies. It is a documentary that should enrage, outrage and stir _any_ sane rational adult, yet these mainstream "critics" are so far off in their estimate of this documentary that the IMDB rating by the masses of the public - ordinary people - is at 80% approval. That not only tells you something about the content of the movie but it actually speaks to the movies very issues and the subject it brings up: namely that those who work in the media will ignore and play down the importance of criticism of the system. How ironic then that "critics" here are playing it down precisely because it IS criticism. Shills, and bigots? You decide.

Despite the fact that I am very sympathetic to the views expressed in this documentary, and that it does manage to ask some incredibly necessary questions, I have to slam it based on the fact that it is so very poorly made. The editing, the directing, and the overall writing of the entire film is worse than a 1st year film student with a pirated copy of final cut pro, and a Casio keyboard. The transitions are laughable, ham-fisted, and incredibly distracting. The music is oppressive when trying to magnify dramatic moments, or just plain awful when trying to illicit any sense of community among viewers disgusted by the state of contemporary media [as it was 7 years ago!]. Some things age poorly, but this thing was a POS on arrival, and I would be embarrassed, to the point of denying any involvement, to have my name on this movie. It is precisely because the subject is so important that I feel scandalized by how badly done this movie is. I won't tell you you shouldn't watch it, but you might not feel so magnanimous after wasting 90 minutes of your time...