15/06/2007
Certificate: 12A
Running Time: 94 minutes
The War on Democracy is writer-director John Pilger's first venture on to the big screen, after making a startling 55 TV documentaries in his career. It explores the tumultous relationship between Latin America and the US with powerful archive footage and interviews with those most intimiately involved in the struggle.
Through the aid of a series of illuminating contributions, including renegade CIA agents, victims of Pinochet's death squads in Chile, and Hugo Chavez, Pilger argues that democracy is being eroded by those in the West claiming most to espouse it. The history of the relationship itself is fascinating, and although The War on Democracy is clearly a polemic, it never pretends to be otherwise.
For those of you disenchanted with Michael Moore's sensationalist tendancies, Pilger is certainly the straight-laced alternative. He argues his point without lecturing and with The War on Democracy he has created a film fit for the cinema, rather than an overlong TV documentary. Perhaps the most important documentary of the year.
Rating: 9 out of 10
The War on Democracy is released in the UK on June 15th 2007
David Jensen Photography:
https://www.davidjensen.co.uk/
