Some 60-or-so years after FDR offered up private contractors to build dams in Afghanistan, to literally control the intrinsic power of this place, there's a riot in Kabul after the American military bombs an Afghan village. The riot is captured by a camera with a dead pixel right in the middle of the frame, taunting you with the sliver of information it withholds, like if only it were filled in you could solve everything.

His style is eclectic, his analysis is holistic, and his needle drops are exquisite: Adam Curtis offers an answer to a bafflingly big question with an accessible narrative which constantly stimulates our video-jaded sensibilities. 

One power of documentaries is to make us think and feel through sheer reality, and the dizzying collage of history, politics, economics and culture makes for an eye-opening exposé.

Somewhat of a recapitulation of THE POWER OF NIGHTMARES, juxtaposing twinned, equally narcissistic and corrupt ideologies. But now both of them are hopelessly intertwined with the self-perpetuation of capital. Deliberately disorganized, given Curtis' repeated point that these cycles only persist directly because of the belief that no narrative can be spun that could make sense of them, that no responsible party could ever be discovered and that no rational response exists. Places its dueling structures, and by extension Afghanistan itself, as sentient things that expose and eventually mutually assimilate each other and everything they touch, including any attempt to control that very power.

This movie is like my version of Love, Actually. So many stars, bin laden, Saddam, Kanye West, Burial, confused warlord Obama, teaching a war torn country about conceptual art (western saviour complex), tarkovsky, hypernormalisation and lots of dancing.

Key shot here is a very brief one of a tank gun being aimed directly at the camera - this is more confrontational than Curtis' other work, telling a long, dense story of a specific country that has ramifications that go well beyond even the expansive text of the film. Also more experimental than his other docs (at least the ones I've seen), with a lot of time given over to extended, narration-free vignettes with no clear illustrative purpose but that speak volumes all the same.

Has anyone ever made a joke like "Adam Curtis Loves Big 'But's" or am I the first?

Nothing really new for Curtis's message: the stories we tell ourselves to explain the world bear little relation to reality and tend to compound the problems they purport to explain, making them much, much worse. What is new is the focus on one single country, Afghanistan, and the inclusion of a ton of fascinating first-person footage of the last decade of war, beautiful at times, but mostly horrifying. It's a sobering companion to The Power of Nightmares, Curtis's story of the parallel rise of islamic fundamentalism and neo-conservatisim, a visceral tragedy balancing that film's flippantly comic absurdity. It's probably the best film ever about this war.

Greatest Burial music video

the "runaway" needle drop is inspired. a lot of the shit people give Adam Curtis for only ever talking about the same six things is justified, but he just talks about them so darn articulately

the pre-"Can't Get You Out Of My Head" filmography refresh continues

Such an insightful documentary. Truly necessary!! What a bloody and dirty world we live in...

It’s all on video. These are images that will stay with you.

I feel helpless watching complete human lives crushed under the boots of war and profit. Snuffed out, tortured, we are the architects of their demise. We install warlords, we teach them English, we are the good guys subjugating the masses. Anything to stop the spread of communism.

Adam Curtis in top form here. I found the story of Little America fascinating. The breadth of footage on display here is astounding, and of course all the Bush-era conflicts have untold amounts of video to sift through. Anyway, there’s a lot of worthwhile enlightening history in here which culminates in the tragic yet preventable disasters of the new millennium.

“Yes, we made it worse”

idk

The idea that Reagan ushered in an era where we can expect nothing more from our leaders than the recital of empty moral fables sure explains a lot about politics throughout my entire lifetime.

It's a good thing Joe Biden is going to change all that.

This film is dedicated to the brave Mujahideen fighters of Afghanistan

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

His style is eclectic, his analysis is holistic, and his needle drops are exquisite: Adam Curtis offers an answer to a bafflingly big question with an accessible narrative which constantly stimulates our video-jaded sensibilities. 

One power of documentaries is to make us think and feel through sheer reality, and the dizzying collage of history, politics, economics and culture makes for an eye-opening exposé.

Great overview of USA/UK/Russia’s involvement in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan and how we ended up in the Forever Wars + helped Wahhabism thrive  + destabilized a region + etc etc

Great stuff. Not as good as Hypernormalization but crazy informative. Everyone needs to watch these 2.

Curtis is really onto something with the unedited rushes. Essential viewing for making the oversimplified Middle Eastern conflict rightfully complicated.