The Fourth World War (2003)

Director:

Rick Rowley

Genre:

Documentary

Cast

Michael Franti	...	Narrator
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Suheir Hammad	...	Narrator (voice)

Runtime:

USA:78 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Argentina

Company:

Big Noise Films

Good, but predictably depressing

The Fourth World War is another earnest effort by filmmakers to underline the severe social and economic injustices that continue to escalate, not decrease, around the world. Seven years after this film was made, it seems to me that not much has changed.

Despite the titanic struggles of dispossessed peoples around the world, the wealth of nations continues to reside in fewer and fewer hands. The economies of poor countries collapse under vicious IMF policies, and capitalism's global 'clubs' thrive ever and ever upward. Meanwhile, people keep struggling, ultimately downward.

The depressing thing is that the world does not get better because of documentaries like this. There are miniscule victories here and there, but the world carries on as it has always carried on: the rich just get richer, and the poor keep fighting uphill battles. I've been on the streets many times over four decades, demonstrating against the rape of the world by global capitalism. A lot of people think it's healthy to ventilate, but it's ultimately futile: if demonstrations brought governments down, they'd be outlawed. The democracy we live with is a myth.

This is a necessary film, but it just reminded me of bloody depressing it all is.