Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Having come of age during the War on Terror and the Bush Doctrine, it has become particularly easy for me to grow detached from political voices and accept as true that left and right views have forever been at odds. Only toward the end of high school and into college did I begin to penetrate that ideological lather and see such bewildering things that had been happening all around me since I grew my first pube. There have been so many questions that I began to believe are unanswerable. How does the Bush Administration sleep at night? How do they sustain their morale? In what world do they think they're living? Most significantly, what drives them to intractably push forth on the things they did in those eight whirlwind years?The Power of Nightmares is a documentary with connotations and conclusions that are very far-reaching and extremely edgy. Most Conservatives, even the more understanding ones, could not, I imagine, even meet this film halfway. Regardless of my being on the polar opposite side of the political fence to them, why is it that I can believe such a bizarre history of what has spawned the people who've recklessly left us in chaos? Because it is the only piece yet from any medium that has answered all of those aforementioned questions. Even if the film were not true, had not gathered interviews with insiders and highly educated experts, had not compiled three hours of stock footage, it is all I've found that gets the heart of one's inquiring mind.Its three one-hour parts are composed chiefly of a montage of archive footage with the director, British TV journalist Adam Curtis's, narration, contrasting the augmentation of the Neo-Conservative movement in the United States and the radical Islamist movement, confronting comparisons with their inceptions and examining congruity between the two. Even more contented, it asserts that the menace of radical Islamism as a monumental, calculatedly systemized legion of annihilation, expressly in the embodiment of al-Qaeda, is an embellishment carried out by politicians in many countries, principally American Neo- Conservatives, in an effort to unify and urge their people following the collapse of earlier, more abstract nationalist ideas.The Power of Nightmares is a flowing cinematic dissertation, embedded in strenuously amassed affirmation, data and testimony, that magnifies and clarifies one's understanding and knowledge. It's a lofty, eye-opening and sometimes hilariously bizarre exposition of deep-seated contradictions by delving beneath the complacence of its surface meanings, subverting the inventions and actualities of global terrorism.It is refreshing to read these inscrutable people and finally come closer to understanding them. Death anxiety, lack of willingness to tolerate liabilities to more than one interpretation, a shortage of ready acceptance of experiences, impatience with conjecture, a pressing urge for the bottom line and discretionary structure, and the regard of any shrinkage of status or self-regard as an imminent danger all reinforce the intensity of one's all-around political conservatism. From the beginning with Leo Strauss and Sayyid Qutb, both becoming repulsed by what they saw as a debasement of morals and values in western society as a result of individualism, we see a mentality that has dispersed and grown both in the East and the West that tends to invoke bounds to personal freedoms, that's more vindictive toward criminals, and holds more traditionalistic religious doctrines. Neoconservatives are trying to forge an American empire, perhaps as follower of the British Empire, its ambition being to secure a dominant military and economic position of the United States. As imperialism is to a great extent seen as objectionable by the American public, one comes to understand why neoconservatives do not ever express their ideas or aspirations frankly.

Modern documentaries are not the same as previous ones. They are impassioned, biased and controversial. The history of the salmon has given way to Michael Mooreish rants.The Power of Nightmares is a rarity; a non-fiction expose on the current state of the world which manages to convey its message articulately and without emotion. Though there is bias involved, the series is so well put together that its narrative prose feels more like fact than belief. Over the course of three 1-hour episodes, director Adam Curtis explores in depth American neoconservatism and radical Islamism; two amazingly similar groups who define politics today. In gross oversimplification, Curtis argues that both organizations create elaborate myths to enhance their own positions.Academics, statesmen and journalists mostly comprise the wide range of characters who are interviewed, creating a multifaceted examination that attempts to analyze the motivations of these two movements.Viewing all three parts of the series will undoubtedly change ones world view. The Power of Nightmares is required for anyone concerned or curious about today's political climate.

This BBC documentary together with "Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)" must be in the list of everyone trying to understand the 21st century, i.e., the days we are living. Even if you are in the "neo-conservative" camp, you should watch this documentary to realize what kind of harm their ideas have done: By making the "enemy" look larger and more important than what it is, they both make us fear of a not so organized enemy and also make the enemy more self-confident for launching suicide attacks on us.Starting from the 1950's, this documentary tries to explain the changes the western (Christian) and Islamic societies have undergone in the last 50 years. The startling thing is that so few people have influenced and manipulated us. And this is becoming easier and easier with the help of mass media today.Just a note: Recently, I watched "Joyeux Noël (2005)". Although it has nothing in common with this documentary, you can see in the end of the movie that the "politics of fear" was always an instrument for controlling and manipulating the masses and unfortunately religion is one of the helping tools.This documentary is highly recommended.

A wonderful piece of television. Thoughtful, focused and not afraid to lay bare a few truths with a well executed calm authority. It is such a shame that the pathetic US media is too scared to show such an informative and surprisingly informal piece of work. The government must have no way of fighting back against such candid and well researched material. I can not recommend this series enough for all Americans and fear not, even through it consists of considerably dark material there is a surprisingly optimistic ending and prediction of the future. Hopefully mankind still has enough decency and common value to stop dictators and unjust leaders from destroying the common good.