Take, for example, The Shock Doctrine, a new documentary based on Naomi Klein's book connecting shock treatment to Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, and the Nobel Prize winning (and controversial) policies of Milton Friedman. The doc throws the viewer right into the thick of things, first talking about the rise of shock treatment as a means of torture, then continuing with a lecture by Klein throwing out various economic policies, and continuing by chronicling the rise of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile. We're offered various pieces of information, but without a strong thesis or explanation up top, they seem like disparate elements. Certainly the events are well chronicled and the archival footage well edited and interesting to watch... But we don't know why we're watching these events.
Despite all that archival footage and authoritative narration, it's pretty clear even without further knowledge that tying every single ill in the modern world to Friedman's free market policies is a bit too narrow-minded. Another recent (and far superior) documentary, Collapse, claimed the same events (Katrina, 9/11, Iraq War, global economic collapse) were the results of oil over-dependence, with similar facts thrown around. So either one of them is wrong, or both are ignoring pieces of the puzzle to prove their point. At least Collapse presented its main character as probably unreliable... The Shock Doctrine makes no such claims.
The film also fails to wrap up its points adequately, thinking that the viewer will easily be wowed by the sheer breadth of its conspiratorial elements.The Shock Doctrine flashes to each of its previous touchstones with all the skill of Kevin Costner at the end of JFK: shock treatment; Chile; Guantanamo Bay; Iraq... Don't you see how it's all part of one tapestry? Unfortunately, just flashing images on screen in sequence doesn't tie them together. If you haven't written a good thesis statement in the first place, no matter how well structured your wrap-up is, the piece just won't work.
The film is also available as a video on demand release via most cable systems.
Klein time!
