Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times (2002)

Сюжет кино: 'If you want to stop terrorism, then stop initiating it and participating in ; So says the irrepressible Noam Chomsky, who takes power brokers to task in this film when they pretend that everybody ELSE engages in terrorism, but not them.
I'm slightly biased, because I would pay to hear Noam Chomsky read a menu. He is sublimely interesting despite his low-key manner. But, as others have noted on this board, this film is not exactly his finest hour. It's disjointed and a little unfocused. He shifts back and forth from California to Boston and the Bronx. Since he gives countless lectures around the world in a given year, it's not surprising that the venues would change so frequently.
What makes Chomsky so unique is that he lays out his arguments like a stone-mason lays stone -- each idea follows from the other. His theses are so well-ordered, thoughtful and profoundly articulate (befitting a linguist, he uses precise and powerful words) that he is difficult to refute, which is a major reason why he's officially more or less persona-non-grata in the mainstream media. There are very few pundits who relish the opportunity to challenge Chomsky. He really does know whereof he speaks. His encyclopedic memorization of data from actual government records (some going back hundreds of years) are things to behold.
It matters little to me that he's not a so-called 'dynamic' speaker. He doesn't need to be. He's much more persuasive using soft and often witty techniques to indict monopoly capitalism and the illusion of democracy.
What this film shows quite clearly is that Chomsky is not anti-American or a gloomy pessimist, two charges regularly levelled against him by his opponents. He cares more about his country than most of those loud, cartoonish Americans who think wrapping themselves in the flag is the ultimate display of patriotism. Chomsky is a regular messenger of optimism and hope; he doesn't hide behind pillars of doom. He tells people constantly to resist, to never capitulate to lies and propaganda, to return America to the democratic control of the people. As he has said many times, it's all up to us.