Pilger's encounter with Duane R Clarridge - head of the Central Intelligence Agency's Latin American division in the early 1980s and author of A Spy for All Seasons: My Life in the CIA - is highly insightful, not to mention frightening.
When Pilger questions Clarridge on the human rights record of the Salvadorian death squads which Washington trained in the 1970s and 1980s, Clarridge eloquently responds, "That's all bullshit". Human rights organisations, such as Amnesty International, are all liars, according to the CIA man; he adds in an agitated voice, that the United States will "intervene whenever we decide it's in our national security interest to intervene. And if you don't like it, lump it. Get used to it, World, we're not going to put up with nonsense."
It's a shame that in the feature-length The War on Democracy Pilger does not venture out of his usual documentary format. The film starts with the journalist telling us what his film will be about - and just in case we might have forgotten by 10 or 15 minutes into it, he keeps reminding us with his running commentary.
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Pilger is obviously an intelligent and passionate man, but his documentary work might benefit from providing his audience with less emotive commentary. The archive footage and frank interviews in his film are powerful enough, and leave his audience with ample evidence to draw their own conclusions.
Sometimes, subtlety is a stronger tool.
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