Axis of Evil
The other side of Prime Time
Film Review by Garrett Ewing
Chicago’s BulletProof Film producers Jim Swanson, Ilko Davidov, and Warren Leming (who narrates and composes), along with director Carmine Cervi (plus a list which reads like a Who’s Who of American activism) have all come together under the rubric Axis of Evil to produce one of the more extraordinary documentary essays yet seen.
The Axis of Evil project grew out of a book of stamp art. The film’s graphics are drawn from the book and are stunning examples of political satire from around the globe. The DVD was designed by Carmine Cervi and Eric Burton, who did a superlative job animating printed material. DVD extras include additional stamp art, histories, outtakes, and some fascinating anecdotal material.
Those interviewed include historians Daniel Ellsberg and Howard Zinn; the former Weather Underground member Bernadine Dohrn, In These Times editor/publisher James Weinstein, media activists Peter Kuttner and Floyd Webb, the University of Chicago’s Martha Nussbaum, and the ACLU’s Geoffrey Stone.
Physicist John Ketterson and sociologist Gerhard Schutte weigh in on the side of liberal science.
Corporate media's lack of self-examination and its inability to ask the hard questions produced much of the motive for this extraordinary piece of media analysis. Yoou will not see these opinions presented in "Prime Time"
Details of American Geo-Politic are drawn from political scientist and Vietnam veteran James Brask, and historian and Fullbright scholar James Barnhart. Lawyer and anti-death penalty advocate Jane Bohman does a thoughtful job of presenting the case against capital punishment. Fisal M. Hammouda, a Muslim activist and consultant, and an advocate of inter-faith relations, considers the current situation between Islam and the West.
Doing justice here to the range and depth of the film is
difficult. Axis of Evil mixes music, historical film footage, analysis, graphic
art, and narration to present the case against the rhetorical use of “Evil”
as a State-sponsored method by which opponents are demonized. The use of “Evil”
as a propaganda weapon can lead to a theological-cum-ideological fundamentalism
in which those not of the “Faith” are deemed beyond protection.
The charge of “Evil” has itself proved an evil. The documentary
offers compelling evidence that the concept is both outmoded and harmful.
The State-promoted concept of “Evil” provides the basis for a
media-driven terrorism, whose rhetoric produces real terror.
The film examines the marginalization of dissent in the U.S. and the negative effect this has produced globally. The Bush administration has led the way in promoting a Good vs. Evil, Us vs. Them media climate in the United States. Its corporate media-driven campaign has been effective, and independent media ventures like this one remain the exception. There have been few voices allowed a platform in opposition.
We stand at an historical cross road in the United States. The real causes of the 911 debacle are considered here, in addition to the case for “Blow Back” so skillfully outlined by former CIA scholar/analyst Chalmers Johnson. Beset by a foreign war, which was ill-advised, ill-planned, and fraudulently sold to an unwitting public, the U.S. has suffered a series of alarming insults to its prestige and power.
Currently overseen by an Administration which has proven
itself hostile to both the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, we now begin
to see the full dimensions of what may prove to be the end of a long Post
War period of American dominance and the beginnings of a significant national
decline.
The corporate media’s lack of self-examination, coupled with an inability
to ask the hard questions, produced much of the motive for this extraordinary
piece of media analysis. You will not see these opinions presented in “Prime
Time.” To its credit the DVD avoids the conspiracy theorys which have
proliferated since 9-11.
Writer Craig Vetter’s poignant account of his father’s
death in the South Pacific during the Second World War is a compelling reminder
that the U.S. has a long history which remains terra incognita. Activist Jim
Swanson (executive producer) gives a detailed account of America’s “Penal
Colony” and the damage done when a society chooses to punish rather
than prevent.
Axis of Evil is an astounding piece of work and is all the more compelling
for being one of the few pieces of analysis and advocacy available at a time
when the U.S. stands in desperate need of some thinking that goes beyond Network
Info-Tainment.
As citizens, not consumers, and as participants, not couch potatoes, we need more of what Axis of Evil presents: an unvarnished look at the United States in what may be the most crucial period of its history.
Garrett Ewing is a scholar activist who writes about media.