It's actually an intriguingly level-headed approach to a hugely emotive issue.
The End of America (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:9
Fresh:7
Rotten:2
Average Rating:6.3/10
Runtime: 3 hrs 55 mins
Genre: Education/General Interest
Synopsis: Adapted from progressive political author Naomi Wolf's book THE END OF AMERICA: A LETTER OF WARNING TO A YOUNG PATRIOT, the provocative film THE END OF AMERICA is the documentary work of directors... Adapted from progressive political author Naomi Wolf's book THE END OF AMERICA: A LETTER OF WARNING TO A YOUNG PATRIOT, the provocative film THE END OF AMERICA is the documentary work of directors Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern. Paralleling the Bush administration's post-9/11 measures to suppress perceived national security threats and political dissent, with disturbingly similar examples throughout modern history (Nazi Germany, Mussolini's Italy, Pinochet's Chile), the film mixes cautionary history with impassioned polemic. Interweaving snippets of a lecture given by Wolf in New York with interviews as well as television and web clips, the film outlines the 10 ways Wolf posits by which a democracy can easily and swiftly descend into the clutches of fascism. From sweeping legislations enacted to erode individual civil liberties such as the Patriot Act, to the systematic quashing of free speech and dissent, Wolf exposes the ways in which the culture of fear is perpetuated through state-sponsored media outlets and used to legitimize the suppression of freedom. While END OF AMERICA is conspicuously one-sided in its criticism of the Bush Doctrine, it makes its broadest and most compelling arguments unimpeachable: no world leader should be above the rule of law, and governments should be held accountable when the rights of their citizens are threatened. [More]
Starring: Naomi Wolf
Starring: Naomi Wolf
Director: Annie Sundberg, Ricki Stern
Director: Annie Sundberg, Ricki Stern
Screenwriter: Naomi Wolf
Producer: Avram Ludwig, Michelle Ngo, Laura Dawn, John Buffalo Mailer, Michael Mailer, Annie Sundberg, Ricki Stern
Composer: Daron Murphy
Studio: Indipix
Reviews for The End of America
It´s very easy to cherry-pick examples and fit them into a previously existing model.
This gripping documentary details the ten step blueprint Hitler and other dictators used to subvert democratic process and personal freedoms. Then it compares historical events with what's happening in America today. Scary stuff.
Attempting to transform this kind of polemic into an engaging piece of cinema might seem the height of folly. However, filmmakers Anne Sundberg and Ricki Stern are more than up to the task.
More often than not, though, Wolf makes her points simply and believably
A worthwhile film to the extent that it can serve a permanent watchdog function as a reminder of the possible erosion of Constitutional rights and of the citizenry's need to remain vigilant about the tendency of power to corrupt, and of absolute power to
Wolf’s dire message has lost some of its urgency, but is still worth paying attention to, if only as a study of how aggressive regimes market their language in palatable ways.
Despite the totalitarian drumbeating and the Constitution love, the movie feels strangely ahistorical and lacks real systemic analysis.
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