Educational Media Reviews Online

This extensive work delivers a crushing blow to the reputation of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. While his associates, past and present, including General Alexander Haig, give rebuttals to accusations, the film’s producers supply onslaught after onslaught of damning evidence. In several instances, Kissinger critics alternate point with counterpoint with excerpts of Kissinger interviews.

The producers pay respect to Kissinger by citing his deft ability to conduct “triangular diplomacy,” having kept the United States on an even tier with China and the Soviet Union. The allegations, however, just keep coming. Declassified documents from the CIA and memos from Kissinger himself are presented as evidence of Kissinger’s wrongdoings in Vietnam, Korea, Cambodia, East Timor and Chile. Critics of Kissinger place him in the same rank as General Pinochet of Chile, a war criminal guilty of crimes against humanity.

Kissinger skillfully manipulated events to his betterment. He managed to speak to both Republican and Democratic camps before the 1968 U.S. Presidential campaign regarding his involvement in the Paris Peace Talks. He fortified his career to gain prestige no matter which party would have won the election. In an interview excerpt from this documentary, Kissinger states that morality applies differently to nations than it does to individuals. “Sometimes statesmen must choose between evils.”

This film is an engrossing journey through episodes of American history from the Korean conflict to Watergate. Each episode is treated separately and to its utmost, supplying evidence of culpability throughout. This film receives the highest marks, though viewers need to have a good background in historical events and terms (e.g. Khmer Rouge, the “plumbers”) relevant to this time period.

Awards: 2002 Human Rights Watch Festival (no specific award mentioned) 2002 Toronto Film Festival (no specific award mentioned)