A MUST-SEE for all Americans!!
Tachi | Bay Area, CA | 11/10/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I saw this movie on my campus as part of the Arab Film Festival this year. And I was blown away! What amazes me is the amount of work such a documentary required to make, particularly since it includes so many different WORLDWIDE perspectives on the issue.
One of my favorite parts of the documentary deals with the fact that NO ONE seems to agree on exactly ONE single definition of "TERRORISM". And if they do, the definition these people use can almost always be applied to THEIR own governments... shocking?! maybe not so much... another one of my "favorite" parts would have to be early on in the movie when two Caucasian women made the statement that "this is just how they are" when commenting on whether or not Arabs are "violent" and "angry", basically something along those lines.
This documentary reminds Americans how biased our media is, and i truly hope for the filmmakers, as well as for the general public, that someday this will change in a positive way!!! This country is in DIRE NEED OF changes in the MEDIA!!
I highly recommend this movie; many arguments are made that cannot LOGICALLY be refuted, so this must stand for something.
Either way, what's there to lose by watching it?
Nothing, I say.
Enjoy, and PEACE [or at least a move towards that...?] =0]"
Hearing from the establishment and the "other"
Preston C. Enright | Denver, CO United States | 08/19/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This film was created by a very interesting effort of the director to travel back and forth from the U.S., Israel and the Middle East to bring people with quite divergent views together in a virtual face-to-face.
Technology can be a magical thing.
The director would interview someone like Daniel Pipes, and then load it into his lap top and play it for a figure like Tariq Ali, or a spokesperson for Hezbollah. Dozens and dozens of scholars, poltical figures and authors were involved in this dialogue. A dialogue that is much needed to cultivate understanding of terror, including state terror. There's an interesting segment about the origins of the word "terrorism," and how it originally implied the use of force by governments. It is easy to understand why various state powers would want that definition to be buried in favor of focusing on the violence done by people without an air force, a navy, cruise missiles, cluster bombs and the like.
For more resources toward understanding conflict in the Middle East and beyond, I'd recommend:
Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land: U.S. Media & the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
The Fourth World War
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs - Without Supplemen
Encounter Point
The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project)
And also, the film at occupation101.com which is not yet available on Amazon."