War On Democracy

John Pilger, the celebrated veteran film-maker and human-rights campaigner, introduced the press screening of his first documentary made for the cinema as ‘possibly the most optimistic film’ he’s ever made and one which represents ‘the voices of the ordinary people’. Written and co-directed with Christopher Martin, it’s a dynamic and emotionally effective diatribe against global capitalism’s role in undermining popular second or third-world democracies in general and those of Latin America in particular.

Pilger aims his quiver of poisoned arrows directly at the US and its policy of using secretly funded surrogates, covert actions, secret diplomacy, disinformation and subversive propaganda – not to mention alleged torture and murder – in pursuit of its ‘so-called self-interest’.

The director’s ability to expose hidden agendas and the mechanics of propaganda in others inevitably invites the viewer to cast a sterner eye on his own clever use of editing, montage, soundtrack, context and evidence. The passion and integrity of the polemic is never in doubt; many of the interviews are very moving, and Pilger’s assertions about the true nature of organisations such as the National Endowment for Democracy are urgent and lucid.

Wally Hammond, Time Out London