(movie review)And I'm back with another Chomsky documentary after "Power and Terror".
This documentary was also free available on-line, so I thought, "why not?" (You can also watch it yourself here).
This is a couple years later than the "Power and Terror" and was filmed during the build up to the Iraq War. So in that respect it's slightly dated. But in another respect, with the benefit of hindsight, Chomsky's clear analysis of the forces that were driving the US to war, and the folly of going to war in Iraq, are more obviously correct now than they've ever been.
Since I watched this video for free off the internet, I didn't have the option of reading the DVD box. But I'm told that one of the DVD sleeves is a response by the director attempting to answer the question: "Why bother making yet another Chomsky documentary?"
Since this is the second Chomsky documentary I'm recommending on this blog, I guess the question might easily be asked, "Why bother watching a second Chomsky documentary?"
Here are a few reasons:
1) Current events and the news are constantly changing and require new analysis. You wouldn't not watch the news today because you had already seen it yesterday.
2) Certain talking heads (including some very obnoxious ones on AM radio and cable news) get hours every day in which they put out their own analysis of the world. In that respect, giving another hour and 13 minutes of your time to Professor Chomsky is not excessive at all.
3) By that same token, we are all of us drowning in conventional media and the limitations of thought that it enforces. You owe it to yourself to expose yourself to as much Chomsky as possible.
In addition, this documentary provides some interesting glimpses of Chomsky's life that I hadn't seen anywhere else.
It has several clips of Chomsky's wife, Carol Chomsky (who just passed away this December--New York Times obituary here). She tells stories about the stress the rock star treatment has put on Chomsky's life, and how struggles just to get a 30 minute break during the day. She also relates how much effort is spent gaining the amount of background knowledge that Chomsky seems to use so effortlessly. (He spends many hours every day reading several newspapers).
This movie is also worth watching for the very interesting story Chomsky himself has about how difficult it is for him to get on NPR.
Several other academics and activists (none of them well known as far as I can tell) are also interviewed to give their opinion on Chomsky. One of them puts Chomsky's lectures very nicely. "To listen to him, you get the impression that he has read everything there is to read. And that he remembers it."
Again, I can't recommend this enough. You can watch it right off of googlevideo at the link above, or get the DVD -available off of Amazon at this link here.
And while I'm linking to Amazon, there's no need to just take my word for this movie. Check out this very well written Amazon reviewer here.
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