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Movies / On DVD / Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times
Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times

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Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times (2002)

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Reviews Counted: 25

Fresh: 18

Rotten:7

Average Rating: 5.9/10

Consensus: Chomsky is a compelling, thoughtful speaker.

Runtime: 72 mins

Genre: Education/General Interest

Theatrical Release: Nov 22, 2002 Limited

Synopsis: Whether Noam Chomsky, the MIT linguist and political philosopher, is "the most important intellectual alive," as the New York Times once famously called him, is open for debate. But without a doubt, Chomsky, now 73, is one of the most... Whether Noam Chomsky, the MIT linguist and political philosopher, is "the most important intellectual alive," as the New York Times once famously called him, is open for debate. But without a doubt, Chomsky, now 73, is one of the most straight-talking and committed dissidents of our time. A steadfast critic of United States foreign policy for decades, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11 his profile took a quantum leap as he provided much-needed analysis and historical perspective to concerned citizens throughout the world. In the months that followed, he gave dozens of talks on four continents, conducted scores of interviews, and published a book 9-11 that was published in 22 countries and became a surprise bestseller in many of them, including Japan, where POWER AND TERROR: NOAM CHOMSKY IN OUR TIMES was produced.

Chomsky's voice may be unpopular (he is almost totally ignored by the mainstream American press) but his incisive arguments, based on decades of research and analysis, deserve to be heard and considered. POWER AND TERROR presents the latest in Noam Chomsky¹s thinking, through a lengthy interview and a series of public talks that he gave in New York and California during the spring of 2002. As he has done countless times since 9.11, he places the terrorist attacks in the context of American foreign intervention throughout the postwar decades ‹ in Vietnam, Central America, the Middle East, and elsewhere. Beginning with the fundamental principle that the exercise of violence against civilian populations is terror, regardless of whether the perpetrator is a well-organized band of Muslim extremists or the most powerful state in the world, Chomsky in stark and uncompromising terms challenges the United States to apply to its own actions the moral standards it demands of others.

What emerges from the footage is a compelling portrait of the activist intellectual, who has been called the "rebel without a pause" by Bono, lead singer of the band U2. He is the most important voice of dissent in the United States today.

POWER AND TERROR: NOAM CHOMSKY IN OUR TIMES is directed by John Junkerman, director of the Academy Award-nominated HELLFIRE: A JOURNEY FROM HIROSHIMA and Emmy winner DREAM WINDOW: REFLECTIONS ON THE JAPANESE GARDEN. Producer: Tetsujiro Yamagami. Photography: Koshiro Otsu. Editors: John Junkerman, Takeshi Hata. Sound: Yutaka Tsurumaki. Japan. 74 minutes. A First Run Features Release. Unrated. -- © Film Forum [More]

Director: John Junkerman

Director: John Junkerman
Producer: Tetsujiro Yamagami
Studio: First Run Features

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Release:

Jun 17, 2003

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Full Frame - 1.33

Additional Release Material:

  • Additional Footage - 30 minutes
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Reviews for Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times

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Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
08/06/08
Ronnie Scheib
Variety
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No review available.

comment Comment
09/26/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image

This sometimes fawning documentary is selling a simple image of Chomsky to his faithful, not expanding on or further discussing the man’s ideas.

Full Review Source: Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada) | comment Comment
12/01/03
Brian Gibson
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
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There are better and more entertaining ways to grapple with Noam Chomsky’s theories.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
10/29/03
Kurt Dahlke
Apollo Guide
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Junkerman's dull film, and its important if inflammatory message, will bore all but Chomsky's fellow travelers to death.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
08/08/03
Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post
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As film it's drab. As Chomsky it's compelling.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
06/02/03
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune
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Whether or not you agree with Chomsky, this film will give you a political perspective not easily found in the mainstream media. It's worth seeing for that alone.

Full Review Source: San Diego Metropolitan | comment Comment
05/31/03
Jean Lowerison
San Diego Metropolitan
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If the documentary is a jumbled mess, the man ... is mesmerizing, lucid, thought-provoking and brave.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
04/10/03
Jane Sumner
Dallas Morning News
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Visually, it's about as exciting as C-Span. Doesn't matter. Chomsky, at 74, is as radical as ever.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
03/21/03
Erik Lundegaard
Seattle Times
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
03/10/03
Sydney Morning Herald
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May have been more interesting if there were somebody from the Right responding to his views. It doesn't even have to be an equal to Chomsky – anyone will do.

Full Review Source: Planet Sick-Boy | comment Comment
03/05/03
Jon Popick
Planet Sick-Boy
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Kept me interested for its full 74 minutes with a series of surprises.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
02/14/03
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
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Would have benefited from putting a wider lens on the man and his detractors, as seen in 1992's superior Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media by Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
01/31/03
Janice Page
Boston Globe
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Whether one agrees with him totally, to some degree or not at all, it's hard not to appreciate the thoughtfulness of Noam Chomsky's gently spoken, hard-defended positions.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
01/24/03
Bob Strauss
Los Angeles Daily News
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Because what Noam is thinking is always of interest, this brief and reverential film is as well.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
01/23/03
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
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Chomsky's rapier-sharp intelligence, his curmudgeonly wit, his goofy charisma -- not to mention his considerable political acumen -- are all but lost in this sometimes-lugubrious hodgepodge.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
01/23/03
Marc Cooper
L.A. Weekly
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Chomsky and his arguments are brilliant stuff, but this film is just a boring, trite mess.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
01/12/03
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle
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The authority of Chomsky's rhetoric has a sternly cleansing force that can't be dismissed.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
01/09/03
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
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The kind of film that you hope makes it onto the TV screens of every high school class in the country.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
12/01/02
Rachel Deahl
Boxoffice Magazine
Ratings Image

It is not a very distinguished film as documentaries go, but it captures the man in a vital moment -- commenting on America's place in the world following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
11/26/02
Eric Monder
Film Journal International
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