Adam Curtis’ “Bitter Lake”: A Review

Yes, his work often does sound like a parody similar to SNL doing the stereotypical long-haired California 20-ish dude who's too much into psychedelics: "Hey maaaaan, listen maaaan, it's all connected, maaaan, you gotta wake up, maaaan! The people running the show have never changed, maaan!"

That's what it is, basically, just dressed up in a faux academic presentation. Also it's not too far removed from the "Jews are running the world from the shadows" narrative of the far right.

Not everything is wrong in his movies, but he only ever scratches a very very thin layer off the surface because he knows if he went deep into a certain topic his movies would be far less compelling and much more boring.

>supposed link between the insularity of American foreign policy in the 1930s and the worldwide chaos of 1945 gave credence to the view that the elixir of liberty could not be contained within the borders of the country alone. It had to be given to others so America might be protected from the threat of external tyranny.

That was the official story.

The unofficial story was than an emerging empire was flexing its muscles and extending its reach, as it had already done e.g. in the Phillipines, and its military and industry wanted wanted more of the global pie (though, for historical reasons, it would have to do it in a post-colonial world, and in a post-colonial manner - Banana Republics, proxy wars, and support for every dictatorship under the sun, all in the name of giving this "elixir of liberty").

I should clarify, that aside from the discordant samples he uses, his soundtrack selections are incredible and worth checking out. I think it's possible I'm just ever so slightly on the spectrum and that biases my experience of Curtis.

In other words, I have a weird susceptibility to loud music that hits certain notes. I suspect most people don't even notice how disturbing some of the music samples he uses can be to some people, so this is probably on me. It's likely Curtis isn't even aware of it.

I've had a strange reaction to certain sounds, colors, and textures all my life, so I'm probably projecting my preferences on to Curtis. I really enjoy the films by Curtis, but I have trouble watching them because the sound is so triggering to me.

Those samples he commonly uses, where it sounds like high pitched squeals (violin?) and overdriven metal on metal tones (synth or tube amp with reverb) drive me crazy. It's literally painful for me to listen to it.

The main problem with a Curtis doco is that the people who need to know the content are the least likely people to sit though it.

I love them, but I mostly agree with his world view already.

Curtis makes interesting films and digs up some fascinating footage.

And yet, what he offers up is profoundly orthodox, explicit, postmodernism with a capital P: the music, visuals, world view, narrative style, overlapping narratives, the intertextuality.

My sense is that he is somehow simultaneously frustrated and altogether too pleased with the fact that this is the best story he can tell. That is, that everything is connected in a bewildering, unknowable number of ways and nobody has any real new understanding as to how best to move forward beyond the old paradigms that trap us.

He frequently criticises the left for not having any new ideas—with some merit. Ultimately, however, neither does he.