"The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear"

Documentaries made by Adam Curtis always seem to take on an impossible task - to connect and cover very different and unique themes in modern politics. As he is both the director, writer, producer and narrator of most of his films he successfully manages to convey his uncompromisingly illuminating and often inspiring insights on the world of politics.

Adam Curtis being interviewed by David Thomson before the showing of Power of Nightmares

"The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear", a three part documentary that was first screened on BBC Two in Autumn 2004 as a series of three one hour, deals with the state of today's world as it is - still polarized between fragmented and often in hostile opposition with the other side. The causes for opposing the other side vary from cultural differences to religious confrontation. One unifying theme that connects these aspects is fear. Fear of the opposing forces consolidates the power of political elites and by exaggerating the level of threat they gain even more power. The documentaries openly question whether the threat of terrorism to the West was a politically driven fantasy and if al-Qaeda really is an organised network.

Cover of the DVD

The documentary shows how two idealistic political groups - the American neo-conservatives and the radical Islamists were left disillusioned by the failure of their liberal dreams of building a better world that they had once envisioned. Or like Adam Curtis explains in the opening sequence of the documentary : "These two groups have changed the world, but not in the way that either intended. Together, they created today's nightmare vision of a secret organized evil that threatens the world, a fantasy that politicians then found restored their power and authority in a disillusioned age. And those with the darkest fears became the most powerful."

Fear was one of the key elements that US administration used when they were gathering allies to support their attack on Iraq. The accusations gathered against Iraq and its dictator Sadam Hussein, that they were supporting and helping the terrorist organization and were manufacturing weapons of mass destruction. After the US invasion to Iraq the US senate conducted an extensive research into the matter and found out that the threat level was greatly exaggerated and the connections between Al-Qaeda’s and Sadam Hussein were nonexistent.

Some important characters from the film (from top right) Leo Strauss, Sayed Kotb, Donald Rumsfeld, (two in center) Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden, William "Bill" Kristol.

This marks a great failure in the ethics of politics as the political power used the threat situation to gain political capital. Furthermore it can be speculated that this cynical step greatly contributed to the alienation of ordinary citizens from political processes as the people became disillusioned about the ethics and integrity of the political system.

Extra materials:

• Here's a nice and thorough session of questions and answers by Adam Curtis regarding the film.
• San Fransisco's International Film Society awarded Adam Curtis with the Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award in 2005 and David Thomson wrote an accompanying essay.
• And all three parts of the documentary are available at google video (part 1, part 2 and part 3).
• A short film by Adam Curtis which he describes as, "a short, and possibly unfair history of the rise and fall of the television journalist as a hero."