3-27-05 Movie Review - The Trails of Henry Kissinger

I watched this movie this weekend.
And posted my review to Netflix, but I never can be sure if they get them or not, so I'll put it here.

The Trials of Henry Kissinger(2002)

If you are the type of person who would rent this movie, you will like it.

If, on the other hand, you've ever used the word "anti-american", go ahead and steer clear from this one. It's not for you.

"Trials" is an exercise in debunking the double standard whereby atrocities committed by non-US armies are condemned (i.e. Nuremberg trials), but those shameful moments of US military history and foreign policy are condoned. The film begins with the example of the Spanish government arresting former Chilean Dictator Augusto Pinochet, and putting him on trial for "crimes against humanity", and is based on the support of the concept of an international criminal court. The film lays out evidence on Kissinger, the former US National Security Adviser and Sec. of State under Nixon and Ford.

The three cases discussed are: Cambodia, East Timur, and Chile. In the Cambodia segment, the case is strong, and the human costs were enormous. In East Timur, the case is flimsier, and the human costs are less detailed. In the assassination of Chilean General Schneider, the evidence is good, but the discussion of human cost is not included. It relies on the viewer's familiarity with Pinochet.

The film is good to watch. It's well made. The filmmakers had good access to interviewees, and found some "shocker" quotes in declassified documents to make it fun.

Ultimately, this is why the US boycotts the World Court. Being the most consistent world power since the 1950s, it has most actively exercised world power, and has accumulated quite a body count. While the power holders (government, military, corporate) will not change in their ways, films like this educate the citizenry on the double standard that we are supposed to approve of, and stand behind, waving our flags.

It is not "un-american" or "anti-american" to reject a double standard on human atrocities. It is simply the exercise of individual moral judgment against a backdrop of a repeated nationalistic assumption of exemption.