A Major Disappointment

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

With all the mainstream media cover-ups and distractions, this is a breath of fresh air. Highly recommended for anyone looking for the brutal truth of U.S. foreign affairs. Alongside other documentaries such as Why We Fight, No End in Sight, Collapse, Zeitgeist, What Lies Upstream etc., you might see the big picture and what this nation is all about.

First the negatives. The narrator (Jeremy Scahill) has a really flat voice throughout the film--typical for documentaries, but I prefer some emotion and inflections--really no big deal. Second, as expected, the book was much, much more through with a lot more information. The film should be viewed as a complement to the book, not a substitute. Third, I personally do not find the "lead character" that the United States is attempting to assassinate by drone to be very sympathetic. Not for a second do I believe that he was a peace-loving Islamic cleric radicalized and turned into a terrorist by the evil U.S. Instead, I think that for unknown psycho-social reasons being a demagogue came easy to him. The positives of this documentary, however, far outweigh any negatives. It is really excellent and interesting, just like the book. Even for someone who has decent familiarity with some of the questionable things going on in U.S. foreign policy, there will certainly be many new facts here. No recent presidential administration comes off good. That any of this was going on under George Bush shouldn't surprise anyone, but Obama comes off much worse considering that he has escalated questionable policies and is a sophisticated, well-educated, constitutional law professor. How many Nobel Peace Prize Winners have Kill Lists? The precedents we are setting are worrying, and, in the long term, today's advanced weaponry is likely to become much more accessible and we may wind up reaping what we have sown.

Not an easy watch but a tribute to journalism as it should be done. Journalist Jeremy Scahill uncovers the existence of a top-secret drone program being run out of the White House. We see the creation of new enemies in far-off lands when people who had nothing to do with terror lose family members. The program comes off as pointless and counterproductive. It's depressing but if more people see it, it can be inspiring. It's fascinating to see some exotic places that we wouldn't usually see, even under the sad circumstances under which we see them. Scahill is an empathetic, brave reporter and his ability to get to the bottom of a story on a limited budget only further reveals the soullessness of the US mainstream media. His work ethic and commitment to pointing out what's wrong in the world should be required viewing in colleges across the US.

For those of you so willing to vilify our government over things done in war, where is your outrage at the acts of terror done to the soldiers, sailors, airmen, diplomats, students and missionaries done by these savages over the decades? In war things go wrong sometimes. It is not planned that way, it just happens. We don't go in looking to kill civilians, but for some reason you seem to forget the intentional and deliberately gruesome be-headings these people performed on captives and innocents. Having worked in this "field" for many years I can say that while there are inevitable regrets, we never, ever go in with the purpose to do harm to innocents.The fact that so many of you are willing to damn your own government along with the men and women who keep you safe in your cushy beds watching netflicks and twitting your latest "bad day at work" scenario is a sad example of the depths to which our country has sunk. Maybe if you spent more time off facebook and out of starbucks you would have a more realistic view of the world and not believe every film, book, or new commentary that pops up.If you dislike the U.S. so much go live in the mountains of Afghanistan or Iraq with the people you seem to idealize and see how long you last and how long they remain your friends.