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Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear, The
EMAILPRINTIndependent Feature Project

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 6 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 8 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Documentary | Foreign
Written by: Adam Curtis
Directed by: Adam Curtis
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 9, 2005
Running Time: 180 minutes, Color
Origin: UK
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Adam Curtis (narrator)
This film was originally aired as a BBC documentary comprised of three one-hour episodes "Baby, It's Cold Outside," "The Phantom Victory" and "Shadows in the Cave." The documentaries question whether the threat of terrorism to the West is a politically driven fantasy and if al-Qaeda really is an organised network. (BBC)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: The Century of the Self
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
It's a fluid cinematic essay, rooted in painstakingly assembled evidence, that heightens and cleanses your perceptions.
Read Full Review >Variety Scott Foundas
A superb, eye-opening and often absurdly funny deconstruction of the myths and realities of global terrorism that is marked by a balance, broadmindedness and sense of historical perspective so absent from many recent political-themed documentaries.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
It's intriguing stuff, but Curtis overplays his hand when he underplays the existence of any real threat (Madrid? London? Amman?), proposes that Al Qaeda is a fiction and risks undermining the credibility of an otherwise compelling argument.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
The Power of Nightmares is essentially polemical. As partisan filmmaking it is often brilliant and sometimes hilarious-a superior version of "Syriana" (which also prudently subtracts Israel and the Palestinians from the Middle East equation).
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Eye-opening political documentary focuses on "the strange world of violence and fear, fantasy and deception, in which we now live."
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
It is startling that a three-hour film dealing largely with the history of the Middle East should find no time to mention either the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the role of oil in the region. And it is more than a little unsatisfying to see the complex history of American conservatism reduced to the dreams and schemes of a handful of intellectuals.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Lee S. gave it a10:
Best documentary I have ever seen on the war on terror! Mind blowing!
Greg S. gave it a9:
This is a fascinating documentary about the similarities between the American Neoconservatives and Islamic Fundamentalists, showing both of their extremist agendas of paranoia and fear. Highly recommended.
Peter S. gave it a6:
When i saw this, I felt that I had been reeducated about the forces at work in the world today. That Al Qaeda was not a vast, centralized organization was news to me and somehow seemed right. But now, six months later, I'm not so sure. I need more information. The vote is still out.
