Unconstitutional (2004)

Unconstitutional: The War On Our Civil Liberties is a documentary film which premiered in 2004. Here are some basic facts about it:

** Writer and director: Nonny de la Peña

** Producers: Nonny de la Peña, Robert Greenwald, and Earl Katz

** Narrator: James Hanes

** Available on DVD and via Amazon Prime Video

** Run time: 66 minutes

This film wants to explore what has happened with regard to US civil liberties since the attacks of September 11 and the introduction of new legislation (the Patriot Act) in 2001.

Many persons are interviewed in the film. I will not mention all names, because the complete list is too long. Here are some of the names (in alphabetical order):

** Aquil Abdullah – an African-American athlete

** Vincent Cannistraro – former chief of operations and analysis at CIA’s counter-terrorist center

** David Cole – Professor of Law, Georgetown University

** Peter A. DeFazio – a US politician, a Democrat from Oregon

** David Lindorff – an investigative reporter

** Michael Mori – a US Military Lawyer

** Laura Murphy – American Civil Liberties Union

** Barbara Olshansky, Center for Constitutional Rights

What do reviewers say about this film? Here are the results of two review aggregators:

** 74 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

** 79 per cent = IMDb

On the US version of Amazon there are 40 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.2 stars.

As you can see, the ratings are quite good. But if you ask me, they are not good enough. I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

PS. For more information, see the following documentary films:

** Shadows of Liberty (2012)

** Orwell Rolls in His Grave (2003)

** Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing (2006)

** Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech (2009)

** Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992)

*****

 

 Robert Greenwald (born 1945)

Founder of Brave New Films

*****

Shouting Fire (2009)

Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech is a documentary film which premiered on US television (HBO) in 2009. Here is some basic information about it:

** Director: Elizabeth “Liz” Garbus (born 1970)

** Run time: 74 minutes

Many persons are interviewed in the film. Archive footage is used between the interviews. I will not mention all names, because the list is too long. Here are some of the names (in alphabetical order):

** Floyd Abrams (born 1936) – first amendment lawyer

** Leslie Cagan (born 1947) – United for Peace and Justice

** Eric Foner (born 1943) – Professor of History, Columbia University

** Martin Garbus (born 1934) – first amendment lawyer

** David Horowitz (born 1939) – author

** Donna Lieberman – New York Civil Liberties Union

** Daniel Pipes (born 1949) – Middle East Forum

** Richard Posner (born 1939) – judge, US court of appeals

** Kenneth Starr – Dean at the school of law, Pepperdine University 2004-2010

** Josh Wolf (born 1974) – blogger, comedian

The first person we see when the film begins is Martin Garbus. Why? Because he is not only a first amendment lawyer; he is also the father of the director Liz Garbus. Liz has a dual purpose:

(1) She wants to make a film about free speech in the US.

(2) She wants to chronicle the life and career of her father Martin Garbus.

Her choice of participants is both interesting and surprising. In many cases, the director of a documentary film will select only people who support and agree with his or her own point of view. This is not the case here.

The choice of participants is quite balanced. First we get to hear from a witness who supports one side and later we get to hear from a witness who supports the other side of a case.

In the US, speech is relatively free. But there are limits.  You are not allowed to say whatever you want. The classic example used to illustrate the limit is this: you are not allowed to shout “Fire,” if you are in a crowded theatre, and there is no fire. Why not?

If you do this, you will cause a panic, and many people might get hurt or injured when they are trying to get out. Hence the title of the film:  

 

Shouting Fire

Many people say they support free speech. But is it really true? There is a test you can take. If you support only free speech for opinions with which you agree, you do not really support free speech. As Martin Garbus explains, you must be prepared to support free speech for people with whom you do not agree and for opinions with which you do not agree.

This film covers a number of cases where the question of one person’s right to free speech is involved. Here are three examples:

# 1. The case of Ward Churchill, who was a professor at the University of Colorado. He was fired from his job. He says this was a violation of the first amendment.

# 2. The case of Debbie Almontaser, who was a principal at a school in New York. She was fired from her job. She says this was a violation of the first amendment.

# 3. The case of Chase Harper, who was a student at Poway High School. He was wearing a T-shirt with a certain message. The school suspended him and threatened to expel him from the school because of this message. He says this was a violation of the first amendment.

Martin Garbus also talks about a famous case from the 1970s: the case of the Pentagon Papers and the Vietnam War. This case involves Daniel Ellsberg, because he was the one who leaked the secret documents. But the case was not only about him and his rights. It was about the US government and its foreign policy over several decades.

What do reviewers say about this film? On IMDb it has a rating of 76 per cent, which corresponds to (almost) four stars on Amazon. On the US version of Amazon there are six reviews of this product. The average rating is 3.8 stars.

If you ask me, both these ratings are too low. I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

PS. For more information, see the following documentary films:

** Shadows of Liberty (2012)

** Orwell Rolls in His Grave (2003)

** Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing (2006)

** Unconstitutional: The War On Our Civil Liberties (2004)

** Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992)

** The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (2009)

*****

Shadows of Liberty (2012)

Shadows of Liberty is a documentary film about the mass media in the United States. Here is some basic information about this film which premiered in 2012:

** Director: Philippe Tremblay
** Writers: Philippe Tremblay and Dan Cantagallo
** Narrator: Kerry Shale
** Available on DVD and via Amazon Prime Video
** Run time: 88 minutes

Many persons are interviewed in the film. I will not mention all names, because the complete list is too long. Here are some of the names (in alphabetical order):

** Julian Assange - Wikileaks
** James Bamford – author, journalist
** Roberta Baskin – chief correspondent, CBS News 1992-1997
** Jeff Cohen – founder of FAIR

** Daniel Ellsberg (1931-2023) – whistleblower, the Pentagon Papers
** Amy Goodman – studio host, Democracy Now
** Brian Healy – producer, CBS News 1972-2010
** Chris Hedges – foreign correspondent, New York Times 1990-2005

** Janine Jackson – program director, FAIR
** Robert Kornbluh – National Security Archives
** John R. MacArthur – publisher of Harper’s Magazine
** Robert McChesney – professor of communication

** John Nichols – reporter, The Nation
** Dan Rather – news anchor, CBS News 1981-2005
** Norman Solomon – founder of the Institute for Public Accuracy
** Phillip Weiss – reporter, New York Observer 1996-2006

Archive footage is used between the interviews. This footage is used to show background information and to present clips from old interviews with public figures.

The title of the film is borrowed from a statement by Thomas Paine (1737-1809): 

 

“When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.”

An on-screen message at the end of the film states that it is dedicated to Ben Bagdikian whose book about the mass media inspired this film.

[Ben Bagdikian (1920-2016) was a reporter and an author, whose book The Media Monopoly is quite famous. The first edition was published in 1983. Several editions followed. The seventh edition (published in 2004) has the title The New Media Monopoly.]

During interviews, participants talk about several specific cases, which I will not mention here. They also talk about the historical development of the mass media in the US and the consequences of this development:

In the past – in the 1950s and the 1960s – there were many institutions of different sizes (small, medium, and large). Laws and regulations ensured a certain amount of diversity. One company was not allowed to own all television channels, all radio stations and all newspapers in one town or one state.

In the 1980s and the 1990s, these laws and regulations were gradually relaxed and then abolished. Today, the landscape of the mass media is completely different: a small number of huge corporations own or control almost all television channels, all radio stations, and all newspapers published in the US.

Reporting all the news and telling the truth is not the first priority for them. For them, the first priority is making a profit for their owners. For them, the first priority is not to serve the public. They tend to regard other corporations and the government as natural allies.

This can cause a conflict of interest: sometimes all the news cannot be reported. Sometimes the truth cannot be told. Sometimes a story will be censored and suppressed, because it is inconvenient or embarrassing for the corporation itself, for another corporation who is a sponsor, or for the government.

Several examples of this phenomenon are presented and discussed in the film.

What do reviewers say about it? Here are the results of two review aggregators:

** 79 per cent = IMDb
** 88 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

As you can see, the average ratings are quite high. I understand the numerous positive reviews. I agree with them. I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

PS. For more information, see the following documentary films:

** Orwell Rolls in His Grave (2003)

** Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing (2006)

** Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties (2004)

** Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech (2009)

** Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992)

*****

 

The American reporter

 

Ben Bagdikian (1920-2016)

 

*****