Last week I was deeply disturbed whilst watching a nasty little slice of fiction - the darkly cruel ‘Silver Tongues’ - and this week I’ve been handed a major downer in the form of real life, the documentary ‘Shadows of Liberty’. Thanks Rialto boss and the happy pills are on you!

Essentially a little journey through the darker corridors of the American media landscape, it is essential viewing from beginning to end and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the screen - as much as I wanted to during several excruciating and tragic scenes.

A rather interesting - and totally compelling - watch in the wake of our recent election AKA Doing the Dirty with Politics, ‘Shadows of Liberty’ is a documentary directed by Jean-Philippe Tremblay and featuring a bit player in New Zealand’s own political game, Julian Assange. It has been called a “slick, masterful political essay on the degradation of contemporary journalism” (Ezra Winton, Art Threat), which makes it sound a little more dour than it is I think as it really gets the heart pumping and the anger bubbling.

Last week I was deeply disturbed whilst watching a nasty little slice of fiction - the darkly cruel ‘Silver Tongues’ - and this week I’ve been handed a major downer in the form of real life, the documentary ‘Shadows of Liberty’. Thanks Rialto boss and the happy pills are on you!

Essentially a little journey through the darker corridors of the American media landscape, it is essential viewing from beginning to end and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the screen - as much as I wanted to during several excruciating and tragic scenes.

A rather interesting - and totally compelling - watch in the wake of our recent election AKA Doing the Dirty with Politics, ‘Shadows of Liberty’ is a documentary directed by Jean-Philippe Tremblay and featuring a bit player in New Zealand’s own political game, Julian Assange. It has been called a “slick, masterful political essay on the degradation of contemporary journalism” (Ezra Winton, Art Threat), which makes it sound a little more dour than it is I think as it really gets the heart pumping and the anger bubbling.

Canadian-born Tremblay pulls in some big names to comment on the hideous media monopoly in American journalism, including news legend Dan Rather, comedian and social activist Dick Gregory, writer and activist Daniel Ellsberg, the aforementioned Assange and bizarrely, actor Danny Glover. Who knew the star of ‘Lethal Weapon’ was also a producer, social activist and humanitarian? Not me that’s for sure, and hope he coped with co-starring in the original flick and several sequels to ‘Weapon’ alongside the vile Mel Gibson beggars belief. But I digress.

It is safe to say that your faith in news media may - or in fact, will - be lost after seeing ‘Shadows of Liberty’, which examines the continual erosion of objective news reporting through the influence of both big corporations, rich philanthropists and government agencies all over the world (but particularly in the States).

It delves into some of the most riveting headlines of recent US history, including the 1980s explosion of crack cocaine use and the now infamous, do-they-or-don’t-they weapons of mass destruction debate. It also focuses on professional jealousy, as in when journalist Gary Webb of the relatively small-time San Jose Mercury News was ignored and then discredited by the big guns at the likes of the New York Times for his reports linking the CIA to cocaine sales in the U.S. by the Contras. The end result was predictably tragic, and served to get me royally pissed off - which was clearly the desired reaction.

None of these stories are new, but it helps to be reminded what news organisations the world over (and the people who run them) are actually capable of. It makes for uncomfortable watching as Tremblay displays exactly how much American media has been manipulated by big money media corporations and governments over the years, creating a wasteland of both flat out lies and distorted truths controlled by a handful of powerful conglomerates. Most of all it’s important to remember that this problem is not unique to just the devilish old USA, and this serves as a cautionary tale for all of us worldwide.

Screening Times: