Breaking the Silence: Truth and Lies in the War on Terror (2003) (TV)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Directors:

Steve Connelly
John Pilger

Writer:

John Pilger (writer)

Release Date:

22 September 2003 (Australia)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

A critical documentary about the war on terror since 9-11.

Plot Keywords:

Taliban | Afghanistan | Weapon Of Mass Destruction | September 11 2001 | USA

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

John Pilger

...

Reporter

Runtime:

Australia:50 min

Country:

UK | Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Carlton Television

Superb, Brave Documentary - Especially for 2003

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The most damning part of this documentary are clips of Colin Powell and Condelezza Rice both saying that Iraq is no threat at all to the United States, and that he has been contained! Those quotes were from 2001. Amazing! For all the supposed evidence of the Iraq imminent threat to the United States, here there is actual footage of top US officials saying it is a complete lie. Of course, that was before the Bush propaganda machine went into a full throttle march towards war.

John Pilger obviously has an agenda and an opinion in this documentary-- basically that the Bush administration lied to the American people and the world, and concocted evidence to justify an invasion of Iraq. But he does it successfully with well-reasoned thought, backed up by solid facts. The clips of Powell and Rice are just devastating.

Very few people in 2003 had the guts to dispute Bush and the march towards war, especially coming so close after 9/11. But John Pilger did it, and he was right. Of course most people only now see how right he was, with a few years of hindsight.

If only more people had opened their eyes to the blatant propaganda and bald-faced lies of the Bush administration leading up to the Iraq invasion, maybe it could have been avoided. 100,000+ Iraqis and 4000+ Americans and many others would still be alive today.

This type of documentary is so much more important for us as a society to watch than, say, another Spiderman sequel. I only hope this kind of insightful, fact-based documentary film-making can become the rule instead of the exception.