The Orbis

Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky In Our Times will be playing at Sarratt Cinema March 18 and 19. The film is a Japanese documentary directed by American John Junkerman that focuses on Chomsky's radical yet poignant view of America's "war on terrorism."

Reviews of the documentary range from Jami Bernard's comment that "this documentary cannot go wrong" to "plays more like a disjointed radio show with pictures" according to Mark Cooper from LA Weekly. But no matter how the documentary works as a film, all the critics agree that the American people are in for a radical departure from the overly patriotic I-love-America stance that is widely accepted as the norm by today's public.

The documentary begs viewers to question whether their views on the United States' anti-terrorism tactics are based on fact or simply political and media propaganda. He picks apart the age-old question of "Why does the world hate us?" through cold, hard facts. And the answer is not as elusive or easy-to-swallow as one might expect from a post-9/11 film either.

The main point of Chomsky's documentary is "to stop terrorism, stop participating in it." He argues that the United States cannot hope to win a war against terrorism when it actively participates in terrorism.

If one thinks that Chomsky does not know what he is talking about, one simply needs to recall the United States' involvement in Nicaragua, Vietnam, Chile and other countries that the United States supplied with weapons and a license to kill so that the "preferred" government could be situated in the seat of power -- ultimately benefiting the United States.

Chomsky's original basis for the documentary comes from 9/11, a slim paperback book published in Oct. 2001. 9/11 presents a collection of Chomsky's interviews that reveal his views on why Sept. 11 took place.

Recently, Chomsky has been on the speaking circuit, lecturing at universities and other places about America's hypocritical attitude toward terrorism. The documentary is largely composed of these lectures given in Palo Alto, Stanford and New York City, as well as an interview with Chomsky.

Currently a professor of linguistics at MIT, Noam Chomsky has written and lectured widely on linguistics, philosophy, intellectual history, contemporary issues, international affairs and U.S. foreign policy. His views as a political dissident are what incites debate and controversy among people today.

Junkerman's documentary targets a mainstream Japanese audience, shown by the Japanese pop tunes used throughout film. While his film questions the motives and tactics of the patriotism and anti-terrorism in the United States, Junkerman frames Chomsky's distinct challenges to the American public's views with Japanese pop culture.

Article Tools