The Power of Nightmares

Movie
German title	---
Original title	The Power of Nightmares
Country of production	England
original language	English
Publishing year	2004
length	180 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
Rod
Director	Adam Curtis
script	Adam Curtis
production	Adam Curtis, BBC
music	Nial Podson
occupation
	George W. Bush ( archive ); Paul Wolfowitz (archive); Osama bin Laden (archive); Aiman az-Zawahiri (archive); Sayyid Qutb (archive); Donald Rumsfeld (archive); Monica Lewinsky (archive); Bill Clinton (archive);

The Power of Nightmares is a three-part documentary by Adam Curtis that analyzes and compares the emergence of American neoconservatism and Islamism . The film primarily deals with the use of fear and images of enemies in politics.

content

Adam Curtis , director and producer of The Power of Nightmares

The series first explains the evolution of views in the Muslim world in order to later contrast and analyze them with those of the growing American neoconservative views of the 1960s and also today. Here, on philosophical thinkers as, among others, Leo Strauss and Sayyid Qutb received and analyzed, taking the role of their ideas today.

According to the documentation, both ideologies are based on the fact that previous ideas about making a better world have not come true, and both sides have similar ideas about why that was so. The main criticism of both ideologies in the documentary series is that they create simplified and exaggerated images of the enemy (e.g. towards other cultures), and that their representatives tried above all to spread fear among the people in order to spread their views.

The production researches the background to the propaganda that shaped world politics, especially after September 11, 2001; it spreads that the world is fighting an enemy who, according to the series, actually does not exist in this form or has other goals. So in the series z. B. the widespread idea of a global organized terrorist network Al-Qaeda seen as a myth. There are dangerous Islamist extremists, but no powerful, all-encompassing secret organization Al-Qaeda that is behind them.

It was first broadcast on English television on November 3, 2004 .

literature

Islamism

Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam ISBN 0-674-01090-6 by Gilles Kepel and his earlier book, The Prophet and the Pharaoh ISBN 0-520-08543-4
- The current work is The War for Muslim Minds ISBN 0-674-01575-4 , but not mentioned in the documentation.
The original writings by Sayyid Qutb - especially Milestones (also translated as Signposts Along the Road ), ISBN 0-911119-42-6, ensure a closer look
The Failure of Political Islam by Olivier Roy , translated by Carol Volk ISBN 0-674-29141-7 and
Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah by Olivier Roy ISBN 0-231-13498-3
Al Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam by Jason Burke ISBN 1-85043-666-5
The Fragmentation of Afghanistan: State Formation and Collapse in the International System , Second Edition by Barnett Rubin ISBN 0-300-09519-8
- The Search for Peace in Afghanistan: From Buffer State to Failed State ISBN 0-300-06376-8
Aiman az-Zawahiri's views and ideologies can also be found under Knights under the Prophet's banner , according to Curtis. Excerpts here , translation into English here ( Memento from June 29, 2004 in the Internet Archive )

The history of neoconservatism

The Rise of the Counterestablishment: From Conservative Ideology to Political Power by Sidney Blumenthal ISBN 0-06-097140-1
Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea by Irving Kristol ISBN 0-02-874021-1
Leo Strauss and the American Right by Shadia Drury ISBN 0-312-21783-8
The Anatomy of Antiliberalism by Stephen Holmes ISBN 0-674-03185-7 ( Antiliberalism by the same author?)
Recasting Conservatism by Robert devigne ISBN 0-300-05594-3 [1]
The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom ISBN 0-671-65715-1

"The Madness of the 90s "

Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative by David Brock ISBN 0-8129-3099-1
The Gang of Five: The Leaders at the Center of the Conservative Crusade / Ascendancy (title depends on edition) by Nina Easton ISBN 0-7432-0320-8

Web links

The Power of Nightmares in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Pages at BBC:
- Program summary of the BBC for Part 1 , Part 2 and Part 3
- Power of Nightmares re-awakened , BBC, Jan 24, 2005

The film US TV networks dare not show , Interview with Adam Curtis, The Guardian, May 12, 2005, (English)

Adam Curtis on The Power of Nightmares , Interview with Adam Curtis, Cinema Scope, (English)

Film download , archives.org