The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear 

A series of three documentaries about the use of fear for political gain.

Stars:

Gilles Kepel, Melvin Goodman, Stephen Holmes

4 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Gilles Kepel	...	Himself - Historian of Islamist Movement 3 episodes, 2004
Melvin Goodman	...	Himself - Head of Office of Soviet Affairs CIA 1976-87 2 episodes, 2004
Stephen Holmes	...	Himself - Political Philosopher 2 episodes, 2004
William Kristol	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2004
Michael Ledeen	...	Himself / ... 2 episodes, 2004
Richard Perle	...	Himself / ... 2 episodes, 2004
Azzam Tamimi	...	Himself - Institute of Islamic Political Thought 2 episodes, 2004
Fouad Allam	...	Himself - Interrogator Interior Ministry 1958-87 1 episode, 2004
Abdullah Anas	...	Himself - General Commander Afghan Arabs - Northern Afghanistan 1984-89 1 episode, 2004
Omar Azzam	...	Himself - Cousin of Ayman Zawahiri 1 episode, 2004
Milton Bearden	...	Himself - CIA Field Officer - Afghanistan 1985-89 1 episode, 2004
Robert Bork	...	Himself - Senior Member Federalist Society 1 episode, 2004
David Brock	...	Himself 1 episode, 2004
Jason Burke	...	Himself - Author 'Al Qaeda' 1 episode, 2004
Anne Cahn	...	Herself - Arms Control and Disarmament Agency 1977-80 1 episode, 2004
John Calvert	...	Himself - Islamist Historian 1 episode, 2004
Vincent Cannistraro	...	Himself - Head of Counter-terrorism CIA 1988-90 1 episode, 2004
David Cole	...	Himself - Professor of Law - Georgetown University 1 episode, 2004
Joe Conason	...	Himself - Author 'The Hunting of the President' 1 episode, 2004
Bill Durodie	...	Himself - Director International Centre for Security Analysis - Kings College 1 episode, 2004
Essam El Erian	...	Himself - Senior Member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt 1 episode, 2004
Roxanne Euben	...	Herself - Political Scientist 1 episode, 2004
Mikhail Gorbachev	...	Himself - General Secretary Soviet Communist Party 1 episode, 2004
Kamal Habib	...	Himself - Founder Member of Islamic Jihad 1 episode, 2004
Ron Hansen	...	Himself - Reporter - The Detroit News 1 episode, 2004
Ali Haroun	...	Himself - Algerian Minister for Human Rights 1991-92 1 episode, 2004
David Cay Johnston	...	Himself - Intelligence Specialist - New York Times 1 episode, 2004
Lewis Z. Koch	...	Himself - Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 1 episode, 2004
Irving Kristol	...	Himself 1 episode, 2004
Michael Lind	...	Himself - Journalist and Former Neoconservative 1 episode, 2004
Harvey Mansfield	...	Himself - Straussian Philosopher - Harvard University 1 episode, 2004
John Molloy	...	Himself - Defence Lawyer Lackawanna Trial 1 episode, 2004
Richard Pipes	...	Himself 1 episode, 2004
John Prados	...	Himself - National Security Archive - Washington 1 episode, 2004
Theodore Rockwell	...	Himself - Nuclear Scientist and Radiation Risk Expert 1 episode, 2004
Stanley Rosen	...	Himself - Pupil of Leo Strauss 1949 1 episode, 2004
Sam Schmidt	...	Himself - Defence Lawyer Embassy Bombings Trial 1 episode, 2004
William Swor	...	Himself - Defence Lawyer Detroit Sleeper Cell Trial 1 episode, 2004
Paul Weyrich	...	Himself - Religious Activist - Republican Party 1 episode, 2004
Jack Wheeler	...	Himself - Adviser to the Reagan White House 1981-84 1 episode, 2004
Paul Wolfowitz	...	Himself 2 episodes, 2004

Storyline

A series of three documentaries about the use of fear for political gain.

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Plot Keywords:

political superpower | false evidence | fear | death | murder | 

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Genres:

Documentary | History

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Details

Official Sites:

BBC [UK]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

2004 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Power of Nightmares

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

180 min (3 parts) 157 min (theatrical)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: In the past, politicians promised to create a better world. They had different ways of achieving this, but their power and authority came from the optimistic visions they offered their people. Those dreams failed and today people have lost faith in ideologies. Increasingly, politicians are seen simply as managers of public life, but now they have discovered a new role that restores their power and authority. Instead of delivering dreams, politicians now promise to protect us: from ...

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Alternate Versions

The series was updated and re-edited into a film for its 2005 showing at the Cannes Film Festival. The edit eliminated some of the repetition necessary for the original series.

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Connections

Referenced in The 50 Greatest Documentaries (2005)

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Soundtracks

The Big Ship
Written by Brian Eno
Performed by Brian Eno (as Eno)

User Reviews

But the Emperor has no Clothes!

This remarkable documentary, well written, researched, and articulate, traces the odd, parallel paths of the rise and failures of the Islamist movement and the movement of the American neoconservatives. What makes this documentary so outstanding is not just that it clearly exposes many of the myths of the so-called "War on Terror," but the fact that it places the power of these myths in a larger and very important context.

This film's position is clearly that it is the failure of belief and of ideology in Western societies that has allowed neoconservative extremists to fill the gap with nightmares in order to assert power and influence.

Fear works well when people do not believe in anything, since that lack of faith makes them quite vulnerable. For the Islamists, fear attempts to fill the gap in societies that have lost their Islamic faith and roots.

The dirty little secret underlying all this is that both groups, the Islamists and the Neoconservatives, are, at the core, nihilists, in spite of their ideological rants and pretensions. One can only hope that a discerning public will eventually be exposed to the hollow, vain, and arrogant "men behind the curtain" in both societies, so that all can realize that these wizards of terror are just empty charlatans.

The sooner that happens, the sooner we can all click our ruby slippers together and return to Kansas, and, hopefully, to some measure of sanity, and, perhaps to a genuine faith.