The Pentagon Papers (2003)

Adam and John spent the first part of yesterday's show discussing the Obama/Nixon comparisons in relation to the recent news about the White House spying on the press.  I immediately thought back to December of 2011 when we posted a fantastic documentary The Most Dangerous Man in America, about Daniel Ellsberg and the leaking of the Pentagon Papers.  While listening to Adam and John, I remembered a fairly entertaining yet sub par TV movie that was made back in 2003 called The Pentagon Papers.

Description from IMDb:
"Daniel Ellsberg, a hawkish analyst for the Rand Corporation think-tank and later for the U.S. government, supports the war in Vietnam until two powerful occurrences: the experience, first-hand, of combat and political turmoil in Vietnam, and the discovery of secret Defense Department documents detailing the deliberate fabrication of reasons to initiate and expand the war. Facing a crisis of conscience, Ellsberg becomes convinced that the American people have not been told the truth about the war, its justifications, or its likely outcome. He decides to expose the secret history of the war in hopes that the American public, its eyes opened, will force the government to end the war. In order to do so, he must risk his career and his freedom, perhaps even his life."

Since this was a TV film from ten years ago, I was unable to find a preview online.  The DVD is available from Netflix and most local libraries.

NA 514 Film

Adam and John brought up the film Bulworth (1998) in reference to Obama supposedly going "Bulworth".

Trailer:

The Boy Who Cried Warming (2012)

While I do not share John and Adam's opinions on Global Warming/Climate Change (whatever you want to call it), I do love that they point out the douche bags on both sides of the debate - especially the IPCC.  I've been looking around the Internet for a documentary that is more balanced on this topic than say An Inconvenient Truth or The 11th Hour (although the later one has some gorgeous cinematography), however they are of horrendous quality for the most part.  This weeks NA Films Monday Movie is the documentary The Boy Who Cried Warming is one of the better ones, but does have some awful animation that you'll have to ignore.

Here is the description from the film's Vimeo page:
"Every Global Warming prediction, has proven to be science fiction. Uncover the truth as we expose the shepherds of Climate Change in this new controversial documentary. Introducing first time filmmakers Pete Garcia II (director), Jesse Jones (writer), Deyvis Martinez (dp), and Will Rich (sound) in their debut feature length film. Independently funded, this indie documentary is not associated with any corporate sponsorship or funding whatsoever. No hidden agendas, just the COLD truth. Support our grassroots campaign through word of mouth."
Full Film (1:25:34)

We Live in Public (2009)

With John's recent commentary on TWiT, as well as on No Agenda, about the call for more cameras to monitor public spaces in the wake of the Boston bombings, I thought it would be worth looking into this idea of no longer having any real privacy.  We've posted several documentaries here at No Agenda Films that take a look at this idea of a surveillance state and it's political ramifications.  This weeks film, We Live in Public, takes a look at it from a different point of view, the psychology of the human being when they know they are being watched 24/7.

Synopsis from Wikipedia:

The film details the experiences of "the greatest Internet pioneer you've never heard of," Josh Harris. The dot-com millionaire founded Pseudo.com, the first Internet television network during the infamous tech boom of the late '90s. After achieving prominence amongst the Silicon Valley set, Harris became interested in controversial human experiments which tested the effects of media and technology on the development of personal identity. Ondi Timoner documented the major business-related moments of Harris's life for more than a decade, setting the tone for her documentary of the virtual world and its supposed control of human lives.

Among Harris' experiments touched on in the film is the art project "Quiet: We Live in Public," an Orwellian, Big Brother concept developed in the late '90s which placed more than 100 artists in a human terrarium under New York City, with myriad webcams following and capturing every move the artists made.  The pièce de résistance was a Japanese-style capsule hotel outfitted with cameras in every pod, and screens that allowed each occupant to monitor the other pods installed in the basement by artist Jeff Gompertz.

The film's website describes how, "With Quiet, Harris proved how, in the not-so-distant future of life online, we will willingly trade our privacy for the connection and recognition we all deeply desire. Through his experiments, including another six-month stint living under 24-hour live surveillance online which led him to mental collapse, he demonstrated the price we will all pay for living in public."

Trailer:

Secrets of the CIA (2006)

While my search for a great documentary about the CIA hasn't ended yet, this weeks is pretty close.  Secrets of the CIA is a British TV documentary hosted by Danny Wallace.  It covers the founding of the CIA and it's role in expanding the American empire.  There is also quite a bit of time spent looking at the "Black Sites" it operates (or, has other countries operate) and uses throughout the world.  While not a great documentary, it is quite good by TV standards.  As with any film that deals with the CIA, keep in mind that it's almost impossible to know what role the CIA itself plays (if any) in the production of such material.

From the YouTube description:

This documentary explains when and how the C.I.A came in to existence and the crimes committed by the C.I.A in the name of America, among many other things it explains 'Black site's' In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black project is conducted. Recently, the term has gained notoriety in describing secret prisons operated by the United States (U.S.) Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), generally outside of U.S. territory and legal jurisdiction. 

U.S. President George W. Bush acknowledged the existence of secret prisons operated by the CIA during a speech on September 6, 2006.  A claim that the black sites existed was made by The Washington Post in November 2005 and before this by human rights NGOs (non-governmental organizations).  A European Union (EU) report adopted on February 14, 2007, by a majority of the European Parliament (382 MEPs voting in favour, 256 against and 74 abstaining) stated the CIA operated 1,245 flights and that it was not possible to contradict evidence or suggestions that secret detention centres were operated in Poland and Romania.

Full film (1:32:20):

Slavery by Consent (2010)

We're back!  After two weeks of working in a projection booth for a film festival, it's time to get back to watching films in my living room.

This weeks NA Films Monday Movie comes as a recommendation from producer Steve.  I'm only 2/3 of the way thru it as I type this, but it's a No Agenda film thru and thru.  There are a couple of warnings.

The music in this film is overbearing.  It plays like a movie preview for the entire running time, so you've been warned.  Also, there are some leaps of logic that had me rolling my eyes.  That said, there are some fascinating connections made and more than enough quality insights that make this film worthwhile.

Description from YouTube:
"Slavery by Consent succinctly outlines the deception used to enslave humanity by the global criminal class. It is a powerful statement documenting the crimes of the ruling classes.

This documentary highlights the nature and history of our enslavement, the absurdity of an all-powerful governing (controlling) class to a free human race and the philosophy of liberty which we all need to adopt if we are to ever be a free species on this planet living in balance with the natural world.

Slowly, the world awakens from the nightmare of debt slavery and illegitimate authority imposed on us which has violated the natural laws and our interaction with each other and all other species on this planet.

This series will attempt to uncover the key components that will hopefully empower each one of us, to regain control of our lives, freedoms, rights and dignity, just by using the same matrix that we’re currently living in to our advantage, rather than leaving it in the hands of those who are currently calling the shots."

Full film (1:24:39):