''The War on Democracy'' is a 2007

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

directed by Christopher Martin and

John Pilger John Richard Pilger (; born 9 October 1939) is an Australian journalist, writer, scholar, and documentary filmmaker. He has been mainly based in Britain since 1962. He was also once visiting professor at Cornell University in New York. Pilge ...

, who also wrote the narration. Focusing on the political situations in nations of

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

, the film criticizes both the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

' intervention in foreign countries' domestic politics and its "

War on Terrorism The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...

". The film was first released in the United Kingdom on 15 June 2007. Critics accuse the film of fostering anti-American sentiment.

Production

The film was produced over a two-year period. Carl Deal, chief archivist on the Michael Moore films '' Fahrenheit 9/11'' and ''

Bowling for Columbine ''Bowling for Columbine'' is a 2002 documentary film written, produced, directed, and narrated by Michael Moore. The film explores what Moore suggests are the primary causes for the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 and other acts of gun ...

,'' provided the archive footage used in the film. It is mastered in high-definition video.

Distribution

''The War on Democracy'' was screened at both the

2007 Cannes Film Festival The 60th Cannes Film Festival ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. The President of the Jury was British director Stephen Frears. Twenty two films from twelve countries were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. The awards were announced on 26 May. '' 4 ...

and the Galway Film Festival. The film was sold to distributors Lionsgate for distribution in the U.K. and Hopscotch distribution in Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Pre-release screening took place at two Fopp locations on 12 June 2007, including one that was followed by a question and answer session with co-director John Pilger. Some in Chile accused Pilger of Chilenophobia by "attacking all Chileans who 'did not speak up to the dictatorship'" and "accusing Pinochet of fascism."

Reception

Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdasher ...

wrote in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'':

Andrew Billen Andrew William Scott Billen (born 30 December 1957) is a British journalist, children's author, and staff feature writer on ''The Times'' newspaper. Early life Andrew Billen was born in London on 30 December 1957 and brought up in Brentwood, E ...

wrote in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'': James Walton in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' thought that while "Pilger stressed that Venezuela's potential utopia is under threat", he "made exactly the same claims for Chavez that he was making for the Sandinistas in Nicaragua" in the 1980s. In Pilger's account of US involvement in Latin America, Walton wrote, "while this was the most familiar section of the programme, it was also the most powerful and persuasive – because, once he was attacking his baddies, Pilger duly seemed on more solid ground. His recital, pretty polished by now, included chapter and verse on American involvement in torture, massacres and terrorism. He exposed (again) 'the epic lie' that this was done for the sake of democracy". ''The War on Democracy'' won the One World Media TV Documentary Award in 2008.

Box office

''The War on Democracy'' grossed $199,500 at the box office in Australia."Australian Films at the Australian Box Office"
, Film Victoria

References

External links

''The War on Democracy''
Complete documentary online, a
www.johnpilger.com

BBC News World
Review
''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

''
Review
'' NarcoNews'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:War On Democracy, The 2007 films Anti-Americanism Anti-Chilean sentiment Documentary films about American politics Documentary films about Latin America Documentary films about Latin American military dictatorships Documentary films presented by John Pilger Hispanophobia War on terror 2000s English-language films 2000s American films