Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Directors:

Mark Achbar
Peter Wintonick

Release Date:

6 November 1992 (Australia)

Genre:

Documentary | War

Tagline:

A Primer In Intellectual Self-Defense

Plot:

A film about the noted American linguist/political dissident and his warning about corporate media's role in modern propaganda.

Plot Keywords:

Media | Propaganda | Chomsky | Analysis | East Timor

Awards:

4 wins

Cast

Mark Achbar	...	Himself - Interviewer
Noam Chomsky	...	Himself
Edward S. Herman	...	Himself

Runtime:

167 min

Country:

Australia | Finland | Norway | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M

Filming Locations:

American University - 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

Company:

Humanist Broadcasting Foundation

Trivia:

Up until the release of Mark Achbar's film The Corporation (2003), this was the most successful documentary in Canadian history, playing theatrically in over 300 cities worldwide. It won 22 awards and appeared in more than 50 international film festivals.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[title card: They who have put out the peoples eyes reproach them of their blindness. - John Milton, 1642. ]
EMTV video host: Three, two, one, take two. Good morning!... My name is Kevin Flook, and I'm your video host all day here at EMTV.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Corporation (2003)

Soundtrack:

The Music of Cambodia

Required Viewing for every citizen in the Free World

This movie, like the title suggests is required viewing for every single person living in the free world. Not many movies can claim to start political and grass-roots movements but this one has.

If you value your intelligence, if you don't believe a pre-fabricated word of what the media machine throws at you, if you want to fight to keep your intellect alive and your own individual thinking original, if you are sick and tired of how this world is NOW and passionately want to change it for the better, then this movie is for you. The movie and accompanying book claim to be primers in intellectual self-defense, which they certainly are but beyond that, they also serve to showcase the many talents of linguist/political dissident/writer/philosopher/professor Noam Chomsky.

I'm surprised the movie didn't win a Best Documentary Oscar, which it certainly should have, perhaps more than anything it just goes to show you that the contents of this movie probably strike too close to home and make the media elite squirm in their seats.

Take 3 hours off some Sunday afternoon instead of watching the football game and WATCH THIS MOVIE, you won't regret it! The movie leaves you with an immense feeling of hope and a profound sense that each one of us can do something actively and constructively in order to make this a better world to live in. If you're apolitical now and/or politically inactive, you won't be after you watch this movie. Guaranteed.