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MOVIES / ON DVD / AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM
America: Freedom To Fascism

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America: Freedom To Fascism (2006)

24%
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73%
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24 %
Reviews Counted: 29 Fresh: 7  Rotten:22 Average Rating: 4.6/10
 
Consensus: More of a scattershot diatribe than a persuasive argument. This documentary about the American income tax and whether citizens must pay it is more of a scattershot diatribe than a persuasive argument. more
 
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Synopsis:
Paying taxes ranks pretty highly On most people's "Least Favorite Things To Do" lists, but according to filmmaker Aaron Russo, U.S. citizens aren't actually legally obliged to pay federal income tax at all. This is the premise on which Russo's Libertarian documentary, AMERICA: FREEDOM TO... [More]
Paying taxes ranks pretty highly On most people's "Least Favorite Things To Do" lists, but according to filmmaker Aaron Russo, U.S. citizens aren't actually legally obliged to pay federal income tax at all. This is the premise on which Russo's Libertarian documentary, AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM, is based, and he speaks at length with various former IRS employees and people from financial institutions to back up his point. Russo contends that the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which allows Congress to levy and collect taxes on incomes, was never properly ratified. He then proceeds to explain how this is the case, presenting all his facts and theories in a fun, easy-to-understand manner that will be familiar to fans of Michael Moore's movies. But after setting out his stall, Russo really goes for the jugular, making claims that America is becoming a police state in which citizens are gradually having their freedoms eroded. ID cards and RFID chips are two items Russo is particularly opposed to, and he augments his warnings about these threats with deeply brooding and ominous music. However, despite his claims of doom and gloom, Russo is an optimist, bringing his movie to a crescendo as he informs his audience what they must do to counter all these threats to individual expression. AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM is an interesting and thoughtfully constructed piece that sometimes struggles to make its point heard, possibly due to the meager budget Russo was working with. [Less]

Genre: Education/General Interest

Starring: Aaron Russo, Sherry Peel Jackson, Irwin Schiff, Dave Champion, Joe Banister

Director: Aaron Russo
Screenwriter: Aaron Russo
Producer: Richard Whitley, Aaron Russo
Composer: David Benoit

DVD Info

Release:

Dec 12, 2006

[DVD Details]

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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A thought-provoking clarion call which concludes that America, instead of being by the people and for the people is, in truth, an oppressive, exploitative Big Brother where government and corporations reign supreme.

Full Review | Comment
05/11/07 02:33 PM
Kam Williams
One People's Project
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repetitive and completely self-serving, with Russo making a serious of specious arguments that are largely laughed at by his serious subjects

Full Review | Comment
04/02/07 02:36 PM
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com
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Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
10/07/06 05:23 AM
Dallas Morning News
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There is food for thought here. But Russo loses his grasp on the material once he expands his focus.

Full Review | Comment
10/06/06 07:47 PM
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
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If Russo really wanted to attract an audience, he should have called this: Why You Don't Have To Pay Taxes! Now that's a title that would get people in the seats.

Full Review | Comment
10/06/06 04:27 PM
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com
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Russo comes off as a paranoid ranter, the movie equivalent of the street-corner pamphleteer with tinfoil in his hat to keep out the gamma rays.

Full Review | Comment
10/06/06 10:49 AM
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune
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Russo's brand of libertarianism is at best naive and at worst tin-foil-hat crazy.

Full Review | Comment
10/05/06 06:16 PM
Kerry Lengel
Arizona Republic
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The catch is the IRS doesn't care and will seize all your property and possibly throw you in jail if you refuse to pay.Talk about a buzzkill.

Full Review | Comment
10/05/06 05:46 AM
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star
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If it's true, we're all due a monumental refund; if not, Russo and his cohorts may want to start looking for write-offs.

Full Review | Comment
09/29/06 06:56 PM
Marc Mohan
Oregonian
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Essentially the filmmaking equivalent of an enraged blog on the Web -- pointed and provocative, but not exactly a comprehensive source for the issues it addresses.

Full Review | Comment
09/28/06 07:02 PM
Mark Olsen
Los Angeles Times
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Even the staunchest and most forgiving of Libertarians would have to admit that this film comes up quite short.

Full Review | Comment
08/19/06 04:37 AM
Peter Sobczynski
eFilmCritic.com
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While the film -- which Russo produced, directed, edited and wrote -- has some fascinating and compelling arguments, it quickly assumes the tone of an angry diatribe rather than a well-reasoned political discussion.

Full Review | Comment
08/07/06 11:37 AM
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
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Russo feels his direction of this film is a brave, seditious deed. The audience I was surrounded by at an advance screening agreed.

Full Review | Comment
08/06/06 05:01 PM
Brandon Judell
New York Theatre Wire
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Lies, damn lies and statistics. It's pure propaganda.

Full Review | Comment
08/05/06 04:31 AM
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
08/05/06 04:31 AM
Jonathan W. Hickman
Entertainment Insiders
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This movie is so humorless that it makes you wax nostalgic for the good old days when Michael Moore was sticking it to the man.

Full Review | Comment
08/04/06 07:10 PM
Dan Jardine
Cinemania
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Russo is a clearly a healthy minded skeptic who tries to get both sides of the story.

Full Review | Comment
07/28/06 03:48 PM
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide
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Filmmaking lapses aside, this is an impassioned and generally persuasive film that rings all too eerily true.

Full Review | Comment
07/28/06 03:45 PM
Timothy Knight
Reel.com
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The mess we're in never looked so messy.

Full Review | Comment
07/28/06 03:44 PM
Nathan Lee
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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If America: From Freedom to Fascism is right only 10 percent of the time, we're in big trouble.

Full Review | Comment
07/28/06 03:40 PM
Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star
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