WAR ON DEMOCRACY

Year: 2007
UK: Lionsgate Films UK
Cast: John Pilger
Directors: John Pilger, Chris Martin
Countries: UK / Australia
UK: 94 mins
UK Certificate: 12A contains real images of human suffering
UK Release Date: 15 June 2007 (Limited Release - London, Barbican, Curzon Soho, Ritzy and key cities)
UK Distributor

Synopsis

THE WAR ON DEMOCRACY, from award winning writer/filmmaker John Pilger, is both a feature documentary and a panoramic feature film; the images are vivid and moving, from high in the Bolivian Andes to the 'invisible' shanties of the great cities that grew in the wake of the Conquistadores. The archivist for THE WAR ON DEMOCRACY is Carl Deal, who was Michael Moore's archivist on FAHRENHEIT 911 and BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE.

In his second inauguration address, President Bush pledged to "bring democracy to the world". In a speech lasting 23 minutes, he mentioned the words 'democracy' and 'liberty' 21 times. Most of the world, it is fair to say, will have recoiled, many in fear...

John Pilger conducts an exclusive interview 'on the road' with President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Pilger also goes to the United States and in some remarkable interviews, speaks exclusively to US govt officials who ran the CIA's war in Latin America in the 1980s. This reveals more about US policy than all the statements and postures of recent times; it also reveals how what's happened in Latin America is a metaphor for how the rest of the world is being 'ordered'.

THE WAR ON DEMOCRACY, however, is a hopeful film, for it sees the world not through the eyes of the powerful, but through the hopes and dreams and extraordinary actions of ordinary people. Although set mostly in Latin America, it is a metaphor for all the world in 2007.

The 'message' of John Pilger's latest film is a constant theme in all his work: that great, rapacious power is far from invincible and that people power is enduring. Few films have been as timely as THE WAR ON DEMOCRACY.