Film paints Kissinger as criminal

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In theaters

THE TRIALS OF HENRY KISSINGER, directed by Eugene Jarecki, written by Alex Gibney, based on the book “The Trial of Henry Kissinger” by Christopher Hitchens, 80 minutes, not rated. Starts tonight, Movie City 8, Bangor.

Of all the questions raised in Eugene Jarecki’s stinging documentary “The Trials of Henry Kissinger,” the most damning against Kissinger are those that condemn him as a war criminal.

Directly charging him with mass murder, the film colors Kissinger, winner of the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize, as a secretive, paranoid, duplicitous megalomaniac whose quest for power was put before our country’s best interests and who rose to political superstardom while literally – the movie claims – getting away with decisions that left hundreds of thousands dead in Vietnam, Chile, Cambodia and East Timor.

The film, which screenwriter Alex Gibney based on Christopher Hitchens’ book, starts tonight at Movie City 8 with a special 7 p.m. screening sponsored by Bangor’s River City Cinema Society, the nonprofit organization that has been working with Movie City 8 to bring independent films to the Bangor area.

Introduced by society principal member and UMaine art historian Michael Grillo, the film will conclude with an analysis of the movie by UMaine professor of Asian history Vinh-Long Ngo, with Grillo moderating the ensuing discussion with members of the audience. Tickets for tonight’s event are $10, which includes the discussion as well as refreshments. All other shows are $6.

Those who do attend should expect a spirited discussion.

Indeed, while the film does present both sides of the case against Kissinger, using a series of interviews with such Kissinger supporters as Gen. Alexander Haig and such detractors as William Safire and Brent Scowcroft, there’s no denying that it’s slanted against the former secretary of state, that the undercurrent is ugly and that the atmosphere is akin to a lynching.

Bolstering its blistering tone are facts culled from archival footage and government documents declassified by then-President Clinton in 1998, when Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was arrested in London for his involvement in the 1973 assassination of Chilean president Salvador Allende.

As the film painstakingly points out, it was Kissinger who formally approved of the coup that led to Allende’s death and, in turn, to Pinochet’s rise to power. Also revealed and documented are Kissinger’s involvement in the secret and illegal bombing of Cambodia in 1969 and how he made certain in 1975 that Indonesia had all the U.S. weapons it needed to carry out its invasion of East Timor, which resulted in thousands of civilian deaths.

As narrated by an icily detached Brian Cox – who, it must be said, likely got the job because he’s best known for his portrayal of serial killer Hannibal Lecter in 1986’s “Manhunter” – the film demands that its audience be fully up to speed on all of the events it covers.

Unlike the recent documentary “Bowling for Columbine,” it has no patience for those who aren’t intimately familiar with its subject. Instead, it immediately launches audiences into the heart of Kissinger’s bloody minefields, which some likely will appreciate but which others, such as younger viewers coming to the film without any concrete understanding of the times or the events that clouded them, might find isolating and confusing.

Peppered with a handful of breezy pop tunes that add a weird buoyancy to what’s otherwise a dark tale of evil, the film’s treatment of Kissinger is unbalanced, for sure, but there’s no denying its timeliness or, for that matter, Kissinger’s own enduring relevance.

Last November, President Bush appointed the former diplomat to head an independent commission to investigate what went wrong with U.S. intelligence in the months and days preceding the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

It was a decision that ignited a media firestorm and found such critics as David Corn, Washington editor of The Nation, who blasted Bush and Kissinger in his Nov. 27 Capital Games column. “Asking Henry Kissinger to investigate government malfeasance or nonfeasance is akin to asking Slobodan Milosevic to investigate war crimes,” Corn wrote. “This is a sick, black-is-white, war-is-peace joke – a cruel insult to the memory of those killed on 9/11 and a screw-you affront to any American who believes the public deserves a full accounting of government actions or lack thereof.”

A month later – in spite of vowing he wouldn’t bow to political pressure – Kissinger, looking frail, stepped down from the post.

Grade: B

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, Tuesdays on NEWS CENTER at 5 and Thursdays on NEWS CENTER at 5:30 on WLBZ 2 and WCSH 6, and are archived on RottenTomatoes.com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores, starting alphabetically with the most current releases.

Formula 51 ? F

Igby Goes Down ? A

Sweet Home Alabama ? B-

The Banger Sisters ? B

The Master of Disguise ? F

Serving Sara ? D

The Bourne Identity ? B+

Simone ? B

Tadpole ? B

About a Boy ? A-

All About Eve (remastered version) ? A+

Blue Crush ? B+

Feardotcom ? F.Bomb

Undercover Brother ? B

The Good Girl ? A-

Signs ? B-

Barbershop ? B+

Lovely and Amazing ? A

XXX ? B

The Adventures of Pluto Nash ? F

Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever ? F

Blood Work ? B-

Trapped ? C-

Baran ? A-

Minority Report ? A-

Unfaithful ? B-

Halloween: Resurrection ? F

K-19: The Widowmaker ? C+

Stuart Little 2 ? A-

Austin Powers in Goldmember ? B-

Lilo & Stitch ? B+

Ice Age ? B

Men in Black II ? C-

Sunset Boulevard (DVD) ? A+

Reign of Fire ? C+

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron ? B+

Thirteen Conversations About One Thing? A

Bad Company ? D

The Importance of Being Earnest ? B-

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones ? C+

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys ? B-

The Powerpuff Girls Movie ? B

Pumpkin ? C+

The Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood ? B+

Eight Legged Freaks ? B

Spider-Man ? A-

Sum of All Fears ? D

E.T.: 20th Anniversary Edition ? A

Mr. Deeds ? D

Insomnia ? A

Life or Something Like It ? B-

Scooby-Doo ? C-

Windtalkers ? C-

Big Trouble ? D

Enough ? C-

Jason X ? Bomb

Brotherhood of the Wolf ? B

The Scorpion King ? B

Enigma ? C

Monsoon Wedding ? A-

Murder by Numbers ? C

Death to Smoochy ? B+

40 Days and 40 Nights ? C-

Monsters, Inc. ? A-

Panic Room ? B

Changing Lanes ? B

Count of Monte Cristo ? B+

Frailty ? C-

Blade II: B+

High Crimes ? C

Queen of the Damned ? C-

Iris ? B

Joe Somebody ? D

The Rookie ? A-

The Sweetest Thing ? D+

We Were Soldiers ? B+

Birthday Girl ? B

Clockstoppers ? C

In the Bedroom ? A

The Business of Strangers ? B

The New Guy ? D

Showtime ? C+

Deuces Wild ? D-

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring ? B+

Collateral Damage ? D

Dragonfly ? D

Resident Evil ? C-

Crossroads ? C-

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist: B-

The Time Machine ? D-

Amelie ? A

John Q. ? C-

Pinero ? B

Charlotte Gray ? B+

Hart’s War ? B

The Royal Tenenbaums ? B+

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius ? B+

Shallow Hal ? C

A Beautiful Mind ? B

Gosford Park ? B+

I Am Sam ? C

The Majestic ? D-

Max Keeble’s Big Move ? B

Orange County ? C-

The Shipping News ? C

Rollerball ? F

Black Hawk Down ? B