The Shock Doctrine - a comprehensive history of neoliberalism
{FILM DIARY}
The Shock Doctrine (UK, 2009)
Seen: Thursday, 29th April 2010 (cinema)
Runtime: 79′
Director: Mat Whitecross, Michael Winterbottom
Production House: Renegade Pictures, Revolution Films
Plot: (from imdb)
An investigation of “disaster capitalism”, based on Naomi Klein’s proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance.
Trailer
Rating: +0 (Liked It)
Impressions In Short
A very informative and interesting documentary.
More About the Film
I think that this is one of the better capitalism documentaries I’ve watched. It had a very clear structure and very specific subject matter. It’s basically a history of neoliberalism (neoliberalism is not the exact equivalent of free market btw, it’s important not to confuse the two! :)), but more comprehensive than what one usually comes across. For one thing, most people start the story with Thatcher and Reagan whereas Naomi Klein starts it much earlier with Argentina and Chile.
There’s a lot of fascinating facts and statistics in the film and I wish I could remember more of them. It would probably be worth reading the book just to have all of them in one place.
Recommended?
If you’re interested in the topic matter then yes, definitely.
