The Trials of Henry Kissinger (2002)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Eugene Jarecki

Writer:

Alex Gibney (writer)

Release Date:

9 April 2003 (Germany)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

A film about the war crimes of the American diplomat, Henry Kissinger.

Plot Keywords:

Conspiracy | Government Official | Media | White House | 1970s

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Brian Cox	...	Narrator
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Anna Chennault	...	Herself
Amy Goodman	...	Herself
Alexander Haig	...	Himself
Seymour Hersh	...	Himself (author)
Christopher Hitchens	...	Himself
Barbara Howar	...	Herself
Henry Kissinger	...	Himself (also archive footage)
Michael Korda	...	Himself (Editor-in-Chief, Simon & Schuster)
Lewis Lapham	...	Himself (Editor, Harper's Magazine)
Geoffrey Robertson	...	Himself (Human Rights Lawyer)
William Safire	...	Himself (New York Times)
René Schneider Jr.	...	Himself
Michael Tigar	...	Himself (Professor of Law)
Salvador Allende	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
John Belushi	...	Henry Kissinger (archive footage) (uncredited)
Leonid Brezhnev	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Gerald Ford	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hubert H. Humphrey	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Lyndon Johnson	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Duc Tho Le	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Tse-tung Mao	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Pat Nixon	...	Herself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Richard Nixon	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Augusto Pinochet	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Gilda Radner	...	Baba Wawa (archive footage) (uncredited)
Dan Rather	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Nelson Rockefeller	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Norodom Sihanouk	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Earl Warren	...	Himself (swears in Nixon) (archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by
Eugene Jarecki

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Alex Gibney		writer

Produced by
Roy Ackerman	....	executive producer
Jennie Amias	....	associate producer
Alex Gibney	....	producer
David Holbrooke	....	co-producer
Eugene Jarecki	....	producer
Susan Motamed	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Peter Nashel

Cinematography by
Greg Andracke
Mark Benjamin
Gary Grieg
Christopher Li
Jeff Weinstock
Brett Wiley

Film Editing by
Simon Barker

Production Management
Belinda Clasem	....	production manager
Belinda Clasen	....	production manager

Sound Department
Jim Gilchrist	....	sound
Roger Phenix	....	sound

Editorial Department
Nick Fraser	....	commissioning editor: BBC

Other crew
Mikaela Beardsley	....	researcher
Claudia Becker	....	production associate
Nicola Behrman	....	production associate
Danny Cohen	....	researcher
Salimah El-Amin	....	film researcher
Roger Kass	....	legal counsel
Damion Lawyer	....	production assistant
Nick Lorden	....	production assistant
Melinda Shopsin	....	film researcher
Melinda Shopsin	....	production coordinator

Production Companies

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
• Diverse Productions
• History Television
• Jigsaw Educational Productions Inc.
• SBS Television
• TV2 Danmark
• Think Tank Films
• ZETA Productions
• arte France Cinéma

Distributors

• Eurozoom
• First Run Features

Also Known As:

Procès de Henry Kissinger, Le (France)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA | UK | Denmark | France | Canada | Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Singapore:PG | France:U

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Movie Connections:

Features "The Simpsons" (1989)

Evil by any other name...

If you don't know who the 80 year old Kissinger is, you may want to pass on this film. However, if you watched his career as an intellectual, statesman, Playgirl centerfold, master of doublespeak, and perpetual bad hair day guy, then you may find this documentary compelling. The film is a credible and balanced indictment, given time constraints, which tells of Kissinger's rise to power and ultimate abuse of that power which, hindsight being 20:20, contributed substantially to the killing fields of Cambodia, the horrific war in East Timor, and an assassination in Chile which led to a brutal dictatorship in which American interests were strictly commercial. Directly or Indirectly, the renown Nobel Laureate de faux pas, may have caused the unjustifiable deaths of enough innocents to qualify him as a war criminal and yet today he has sufficient credibility to gain appointment, though short lived, as top cop in the 911 disaster investigation, still serves as CEO of his own consulting firm, and leaves the telltale odor of megaloegomania wherever he goes. An intriguing digest of Hitchens book of the same name. (B)