The Power Of Nightmares/Adam Curtis

As for the likes of Irving Kristol and "Professor" Richard Pipes, the words "please kill me" sprang to mind...

Come to think of it, where exactly does Pol Pot fit into all this?

But yes, a beautiful, confident piece of documentary making, that got me feeling all 'ahh, the BBC'.

I liked this assessment in the Times today:

If 'The Power of Nightmares' had been drafted as a play, it would be hailed as a dazzlingly thought-provoking drama. As a book, its thesis would become a debating point on talk shows round the world. Even in the form of a here-are-the-facts documentary, it is so artfully crafted, so engagingly argued, so playfully illustrated, that you happily reserve your questions and reservations until the final credits start rolling.

Here is a talented, intelligent film-maker enjoying himself and showing what you can do with an hour of television. It is deliciously spliced together, seasoned with deftly chosen archive footage from an improbale palette of sources: everything from clips from episodes of 'Perry Mason' and 'Gunsmoke', to American prom dances and Egyptian television commercials.

Apparently it was going to be trailed as long ago as the weekend before last, but they pulled back on it because of Ken Bigley.

X-post. Ahh, cool. I haven't read that.

I did like his book "Russia Under The Old Regime", so was slightly disappointed to find out he was in with all the neo-cons in the '70s. Although he did have one very annoying habit of referring to all medieval people of Scandinavian origin as "Normans".

I can't remember what the Mitrokhin Archive says about Soviet sponsorship of teroorism, but there was something. Possibly supplied by The Spy Who Came In From The Garden.

A torrent for the episode, if anyone is interested.

In the end, it was strangely calming, rather than depressing. All this will pass.

Tonight's episode was very poignant, and made me sad.

I second that. I downloaded the last two episodes last Saturday and watched them, very powerful. It's sad that there's great documentaries such as this and The White House for Sale airing on UK television, and most people in the US won't get an opportunity to see them.

Also, things that weakened his argument, such as Madrid, were kind of skipped over a bit too lightly.

Kerry seemed shoved in just in case.

Quibbles aside, top-notch television. I may even go for a month without complaining about my licence fee.

It is strange that I had never heard those people swearing as the planes hit the towers.

The cumulative effect was a kind of political version of James Burke's Connections series from the '70s. OK in shaggy dog conspiracy terms but didn't really pinpoint whether it was just the expected cocktail of bilateral incompetence, stubbornness and stupidity which led us to our current pretty pass rather than a Conspiracy as such.

I too totally agree with PJ Miller. I don't recall Madrid being mentioned at all. I couldn't get the idea out of my head that while it's fine to criticise the hysteria created by the neo-cons, (that Disney video!!), you can understand why the likes of Britain have to at least be on their guard against the kind of thing that happened in Madrid - even if we acknowledge the programme's main point that there is no such thing as monstrous Al-Qaeda.

This was the third part, part 1 was all about Afghanistan

great use of music, mind.

a) didnt really explore what Bin Laden's motivations were for trying a new policy of attacking america, going against what other islamic fundamentalist gorups were interested in (eg toppling central asian regimes*).

b) kept on repeating how the neo cons "grand mission" was some titanic battle of good vs evil, that seemed a bit suspect. are these people really solely driven by moral purpose, no matter how extreme or well, silly, that moral purpose is?

c) er i tcant think of another. but i sort of inherently dont believ things on tv when people make somewhat grandiose claims, whether they be blair, bush or some dude intoning opposing views over loads of tiny clips. it was kinda eisenstein-esque, and well, his aim was kinda totally "manipulate the viewer, worry bout factual issues later".

* interesting becasue in 2000 i was in debate with loads of russian politics students, and they savaged us about Chechnya, along the lines of "Russia is under the threat of Attack by a islamic super state, chehcnya will be the first to fall to them". We (ie a few brits) were all like, "WTF? Islamic fundamentalism? whats that? whats the issue here? quit being so paranoid!". a year later, it became a bit clearer what the idea of a threat from islamic fundamentalism might mean.

TraumaZone?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2022/adam-curtis-russia-1985-1999-traumazone

starts 13th october

oh, didn't scroll up, sorry ernest

TraumaZone, a BBC documentary by Adam Curtis on the collapse of communism and democracy in Russia, comes out tomorrow. It is different from Curtis's previous films--there's no voice-over or overarching argument. We started work before the current war; I was a producer for this. pic.twitter.com/6fC2dq2woc

— Grigor Atanesian (@atanessi) October 12, 2022

I was wondering if the no voiceover was just a feature of the trailer. If there is a subtitle narrative I'll still be reading it in his voice.

my Adam Curtis wishlist is more interviews, less voiceover. So sounds good.

more crazy frog less burial

that's right

no overarching argument eh

that's why it's called Some Stuff That Just Happened

Guessing there is no voiceover as Curtis has probably registered the reaction/parodying of it.

Narrator's voice:

if I was him I'd put in a scene with something like some haunted '90s VHS footage of a post-Soviet grocery store with empty shelves and desperate faces with a sad BURIAL soundtrack, just for the haters, lol

a nim nim nah

If there is a subtitle narrative I'll still be reading it in his voice.

this tbh

Guessing there is no voiceover as Curtis has probably registered the reaction/parodying of it.

this is the most recent Adam Curtis documentary afaic

David Baddiel vs the worms pic.twitter.com/vACyOyKTjC

— TheIainDuncanSmiths (@TheIDSmiths) January 5, 2022

if I was him I'd put in a scene with something like some haunted '90s VHS footage of a post-Soviet grocery store with empty shelves and desperate faces with a sad BURIAL soundtrack, just for the haters, lol

ah yes he did. I'm thinking that the "something incredible happened" parts of his narration would actually sound hilarious in a deepfake Starmer voice

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/oct/12/russia-adam-curtis-extreme-capitalism-liz-truss-traumazone

This is good lol

Though I do miss the bullshit

"The main cause of fires in apartments across Russia was exploding TV sets"

this is the best shit on the beeb in ages.

loved episode one. tho I do actually miss his voice tbh. thought the lemur/porcupine guy at the start was de niro circa taxi driver for a minute. Chernobyl stuff was wince inducing especially the scientists who must of known the folly of their improvised has-suits. loads of stuff I didn't know about ie Georgia gassing. liked the Mujahedin fighting in the background over which one got the surrendered Soviet soldiers weapons.

"move your fat arse and fire the rocket"!

lol yes
also thought it was sweet that the hotel receptionist turned down the offer of a bribe from the prostitute and allowed her to go about her business tax free.
found the voice and tone of the reform school den mother v soothing

i’m about halfway into the second one. it’s true that he’s not making the kind of big argument he usually does with these. it’s like a footage reclamation exercise, well edited, well subtitled. i mean that’s what it says on the tin - “what it felt like” - and so he’s putting the mundane side by side with the extraordinary, the personal side by side with big public news, as it would have felt, day by day. i suppose the economic history of looting and perestroika he has to tease out of the footage a bit more. but you can imagine this sort of project done with any number of subjects in the bbc archives really.

extraordinary moment when the soviet soldiers are surrendering and one of them has a shaved head and your brain tells you it must be that young man we saw leaving home earlier.

Ha!

An absolute disaster on the train as I settle down with my laptop to watch Episode 4 of Adam Curtis’s new BBC series about Russia in the 1990s.

— Dominic Sandbrook (@dcsandbrook) October 14, 2022

That cake factory. Jesus.

all that could have been avoided with a simple "I'm so sorry! I'm watching a documentary and didn't know they would be showing things like that! ...have you heard about TraumaZone!?"

i'm looking forward to watching. my VPN is having trouble fooling the bbc iplayer but it'll work somehow.

episode 2
loved the old woman taking the long journey to visit her friend to get some potatoes. she was great.

holy shit at the laundry that had a refit one year that resulted in lots of scrap metal of old machines and the central planners noting this volume of scrap and writing it into future plans that they must have the same amount of scrap EVERY year from now on or be fined despite the fact that obviously no new refitting was taking place in subsequent years. resulting in the laundry going looking for scrap to fulfill their quota. astonishing.

Just started in on this. Am reminded a lot of El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency another really good breakdown of how a country becomes a kleptocracy.

FYI, it's Lawrence English doing some of the soundscapes
https://lawrenceenglish.bandcamp.com/album/themes-and-atmospheres-for-adam-curtiss-russia-1985-1999-traumazone

I was confusing him with Adam Curry in my mind - talk about the Power of Nightmares

holy shit at the laundry that had a refit one year that resulted in lots of scrap metal of old machines and the central planners noting this volume of scrap and writing it into future plans that they must have the same amount of scrap EVERY year from now on or be fined despite the fact that obviously no new refitting was taking place in subsequent years. resulting in the laundry going looking for scrap to fulfill their quota. astonishing.

Episode 4: Every scene with the national anthem committee had me laughing.

Interview with Curtis from yesterday as the UK government collapsed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=663vLIYBcpI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtVx3KaZ-Z0

curtis on office hours

That little beggar girl, she does act up for the camera with the confidence of a Hollywood child actor, it's quite amazing. Wonder what happened to her, most probably I don't want to know.

need to know what this karaoke track from Kyrgyzstan in episode 4 is

this is good

Did v much enjoy the taxi driver saying

The plan is the plan.
It's a pain in the arse.

lol that the Russian fascists decided to call themselves liberal democrats

extra lol at a party calling itself demicrats and openly campaigning for abolishing elections

traumazone is on bbc4 on Monday (pts 1, 2, 3)

I keep thinking Adam Curry

need to know what this karaoke track from Kyrgyzstan in episode 4 is

heck yeah, Reddit came through here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwAuCdO62UU

Anyone seen this?

today is 9/11. but in a way, every day since 9/11 has also been 9/11......

i interviewed Christopher Jason Bell (@UpdateTheGrids) about his sprawling found-footage chronicle of the B*sh years MISS ME YET, free to stream on @means_tv, for @thebafflermag ~https://t.co/EJmB1AnIIs

— $teve Macfarlane (℠) (@dimension_tide) September 11, 2023

I’m intrigued by this but, having been in high school during this era, I don’t know how long I could watch it without ruining my day with anger. Had the same reaction last year when I read Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump.