Adam Curtis', Bitter Lake

Too hot for tv?
Learnt a lot.
▶ Adam Curtis - "Bitter Lake" - YouTube

 

I'm just curious but when did this film come out? Is this a recent documentary?

 

Like, 6 days ago. It is really informative.
Maybe they tried to spin it. Don't see how though.

 

Perhaps you could summarize this? The film is two hours long...

 

Agree with KB, I lost interest after the first 10 minutes that seemed to be mostly disjointed video montage's that jumped from the 40's to the 70's back to the 50s and then to the 90's, but added nothing my understanding of the history of American-Afghan joint business venture between the Afghan King and Morrison-Knudsen...Although, I was treated to what appear to be home movies of the Morrison-Knudsen employes while they were in Afghanistan. Again, it added nothing to my understanding of the situation.

From what little I did see, and if the movie really is 2 hours long...It is one and a half hours too long.

 

Well worth your time. If not for the soundtrack alone. Loved the 70's styles that were happening in Iran and Afghanistan. They were progressive.
At 1:11 a dove lands on a soldiers gun. 1:11.
Back in 45, the US agreed to "Oil for protection" with Saudi Arabia.
The rest is history.
And it is ugly, shamefull even.
Speaks volumes as to what is going on to this day.

Please take the time to watch this important documentary.

 

Mh, wasn´t that agreement in 70ties ? The US promised "protection" to Saudis on exchange they only sell oil for $ ?
That´s at least what I remember... later all Opec would change to the $.
When countries considered to sell in other currency, they could be in "danger"..

Will watch docu later when more time, thanks for posting

Synopsis from IMDB:
Politicians used to have the confidence to tell us stories that made sense of the chaos of world events. But now there are no big stories and politicians react randomly to every new crisis - leaving us bewildered and disorientated. Bitter Lake is a new, adventurous and epic film by Adam Curtis that explains why the big stories that politicians tell us have become so simplified that we can't really see the world any longer. The narrative goes all over the world, America, Britain, Russia and Saudi Arabia - but the country at the heart of it is Afghanistan. Because Afghanistan is the place that has confronted our politicians with the terrible truth - that they cannot understand what is going on any longer. The film reveals the forces that over the past thirty years rose up and undermined the confidence of politics to understand the world. And it shows the strange, dark role that Saudi Arabia has played in this. But Bitter Lake is also experimental.

Other shorter piece from the guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87WqBDgc7wY

 

After reading the wiki account:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_Lake_(film)
I'm not convinced it's worth my time. Especially since at least according to wiki some of his basic concepts seem flawed IMO.

 

Yup, agree with LWD, reading the Wiki description it seems to tell nothing new, most of this is quite well known too me already. But still perhaps the movie delivers new insights.

 

K. I didn't know a lot of that stuff...Would recommend this docu to those who don't already know it all.
Guess everybody knows that SA funds terrorists who work against us, and we are obligated to look away from the root cause.
SA funds wahhabism. Extremism. Which only ever causes problems. Any extremism needs to be wiped out. With extreme prejudice. Christian, Jew, Muslim whatever.
Waiting for the 28 pages that were redacted in the 911 investigation to be released. Would bet SA is mentioned more than a few times.

 

Well SA is an allie of the US, so don´t expect that the leaders of both countries will tell this story, however you can find some more material about the topic if you look a bit.


Weeeeellll - some GOV officials already talked about that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqn0bm4E9yw

 

I really do find that irritating. If you look back through the various threads on this board you will find that is far from the case. Now as a matter of fact I for the most part ignore videos as they are generally very marginal as sources. Now find me a good transcript and I'll take a look. As it is based on the title I don't know if she is simply wrong or if the person who created the title overstated the case.

 

Sorry for that I will edit my post, you are "mostly" right except - 2-3 issues, ok And yes, I believe video uploader "overstated a bit" but not much

 

Certainly there were some actions (and perhaps even more important some lack of action) on the part of the US that made the formation of Al Qaeda easier. That's a long way from being able to accurately state "we created Al Qaeda" though. Indeed since some of the actions that would have if not prevented made its formation less likely would have involved significant meddling in the intrerna affairs of other countries it's not clear we should have taken them, especially since the consequences could have been even worse.

 

Howdie, I found another film by this guy and this one is really interesting (eg. I didn´t know about El Kaida and Necons in USA really much, but this one shows the history of groups)

"The Power of Nightmares, subtitled The Rise of the Politics of Fear, is a BBC documentary film series, written and produced by Adam Curtis. Its three one-hour parts consist mostly of a montage of archive footage with Curtis's narration. The series was first broadcast in the United Kingdom in late 2004 and has subsequently been broadcast in multiple countries and shown in several film festivals, including the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. "

It´s 3 parts:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x20su5f_the-power-of-nightmares-1-the-rise-of-the-politics-of-fear-bbc-2004_news

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x20vgms_the-power-of-nightmares-2-the-phantom-victory-bbc-2004_news

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x20xke2_the-power-of-nightmares-03-the-shadows-in-the-cave_news



PS: If you have commercials in it, you can click the "x" in the upper right corner

 

No! No! No! You used the dreaded "N" Word! Do not use the "N" Word!
For that means that this Adam Curtis flick will be far leftist liberal tripe...

Just watched the first minute...Called it!...and closed it, no need to watch any further.

So, let me guess...This schmuck wastes three hours bashing the "N" word people for peddling "fear-mongering" to their constituents.

Yet, here his is, spending three hours peddling his own brand of "fear-mongering."



Oh, the irony is just so delicious.

 

Made a lot of sense to me. Unsure where the fear mongering is. The facts are- SA has 2 faces.
Would you be friends if buddy said 1 thing and then did another...
Let's see the 28 pages of redacted information in the 911 report. Outrageous that such an important doc would have any redactions at all.
Don't you have reservations about SA, LW/ MrT?

 

Why should I have reservations against Saudi Arabia?

 

Hahhaha. Oh you ...
Because not the sharpest tool in shed, this article might capsize what I cannot.
From RT:
http://rt.com/op-edge/228295-bitter-lake-dangerous-tv/

 

Sorry, Poppy.

The article lost me when I read the 2nd and 3rd sentences

Perhaps, next time you could find an objective review, rather than that of some gushing fanboi...

Depending on what you call "radical Islam", it began back in the 1920's, but didn't really begin to gain traction until World War II and the post-war era. Afghanistan has be giving the West it's fair share of headaches for Since the First Anglo-Afghan War in 1839. Yet, the "Petrodollar" does not appear until the early 1970's.

I can sum up "a sumptuous backdrop of dream-like archive footage and haunting music" into one word..."Filler."