Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire (2004) User Reviews

The Thinking Person's "Fahrenheit 9/11"

[Carl_Tait · 9/10 · 12 September 2004]

For those of us who agree with many of Michael Moore's views but despise his irresponsible tactics, "Fahrenheit 9/11" was a horrifying movie for all the wrong reasons. Happily, Moore's brand of intellectual con artistry is entirely absent from Earp and Jhally's "Hijacking Catastrophe," which is quietly matter-of-fact and all the more compelling as a result. No fraudulent newspaper clippings, deceptive editing, histrionic bombast, or grossly misleading innuendos are to be found here; just a bunch of intelligent, articulate people making some devastating points. The film is tightly edited and fascinating throughout.

9/10. Highly recommended.

A must-see for all Americans

[bernie-122 · 9/10 · 5 October 2006]

Although I found this to be disappointingly cliché, it nevertheless should be required viewing for all Americans. Most people probably don't know that the administration they have elected is not merely conservative, but reactionary, and dangerously so.

I'm puzzled as to why the makers need to present the material just like a "60 Minutes" episode, unless they believe that's the only format the average Joe will accept. Maybe so, but this will also cause him to regard the content as being similarly superficial, which it certainly is not. This is disappointing, coming from an organization whose avowed purpose is to shake the media out of the rut it's in.

However, the message is so important and frightening that these shortcomings must be overlooked in the face of the realization of where we are headed if we don't do something to stop this before it's too late.

Less invective than F9/11, further reaching

[georoad · 9/10 · 2 August 2004]

This movie is more dispassionate than F9/11. With interviews by the usual suspects of "Left" oriented politics (to those who have watched a lot of documentaries), with a spattering of retired military members, it paints a picture of the present President as starting us from hegemony to Empire.

Overall, it uses more conventional documentary techniques and less personal invective to make it's claims. The conclusion is that when no one is left standing, who will pay for the current debts?

On the lighter side, I could not keep my eyes off the screen when Norman Mailer was interviewed. It was not watching him, rather in the background was a huge a Lego project that was either a castle, or futuristic spaceport.

The movie that F 9-11 should have been!

[mrkevinj · 25 October 2004]

Wow! Just watched this movie last night, and I didn't sleep well at all. I saw Fahrenheit 9-11 and found it to be entertaining, but too biased to be taken seriously. This movie, however, gave me chills and I am already quite familiar with the material discussed. It is an hour well spent and goes a long way toward educating the average American about NeoConservative views and how they have now become the dominant force in American politics. This movie is a MUST SEE if you ever care to truly understand why we are in Iraq and Afghanistan and why we're not leaving (so long as Bush and the NeoCons are in power anyway)!

The main difference between this movie and the others which have tried to target the Bush Administration so fiercely is that this one actually shows the extreme economic costs of waging continuous wars with those we don't agree with, and leaves it mostly to the viewer to decide whether never-ending war and American Imperialism is the correct course to take with so many other pervasive domestic problems of our own to deal with (not to mention the myriad of social and political costs). It is also the first movie (and even book for the most part) I have ever seen/read that deals even remotely with the very serious and deep-level links between the NeoCons in the Bush administration and the Israel leadership (read the extended interview w/ ex-Pentagon agent Karen Kwiatkowski (Lt. Col. USAF retired).

Invite your friends, family and neighbors to watch this movie with you because this is the true debate Americans should be having and not whether some rich kid did his duty in 'Nam thirty years ago. Enjoy!

Brilliantly portrayed with brutal truths that should terrify every American. Possible Spoiler

[Drich82 · 10/10 · 2 October 2004]

Granted, this film is not as "glitzy" as Michael Moore's, and it isn't as in-your-face. However, that doesn't not take away from it's message, and some may argue it enhances it.

**********Film Spoiler Warning***********

While I don't think one can spoil a documentary, I'll put that in nonetheless.

While Fahrenheit dealt more with Bush's hypocrisy and both his dealings and benefits financially with the Arab world, Hijacking Catastrophe widens the camera, focusing on "Neo-Conservative" chickenhawks of the Republican party (Rumsfeld, Bush, Cheyney, etc.) and illustrates how they're right-wing foreign policies, schemed since the post cold-war early 80's, have been systematically put into place since 9/11.

A brilliant film. Impressive list of world-renowned thinkers, ex-military, and political activists weigh-in on the topic. The film ends leaving the viewer with some scary conclusions on how the Bush Government and the Republican Party view it's place in the world, and furthermore, how they see the world as something to be conquered.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

An invaluable and frightening film

[hairtriggerhorror · 29 October 2004]

"Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire" is a riveting documentary that should not be missed. It sheds much needed light on shocking use of the tragedies of September 11th 2001 by Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and others in the George W. Bush administration as a tool to implement their terrifying neo-conservative agenda. Unlike the excellent but obviously biased "Fahrenheit 9/11," this film avoids cheap shots at the subjects and focuses on the facts. The information unearthed in this documentary is so damning that spit-laden combs and eerie off camera presidential preening would be a waste of valuable seconds. This film is unfortunately short at 60 minutes in length but with commentary from such titans of intellectual as thought Norman Mailer and Noam Chomsky the film uses each of these minutes to gripping avail.

Great Documentary - a must see!

[wj1138 · 23 September 2004]

I just saw Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire today and was most impressed with the objectivity, the detail and complete examination of the facts. Obviously in the title you understand it has an opinion and it finds and examines evidence to make its point. It does so, however, leaving the viewer with enough information to form their own opinion: Masterful documentary film making at its finest. It is shame that most Americans won't see this film before your Presidential election. If so I doubt you would re-elect your current President and might in fact have him, and Rumsfeld et al, charged with high treason, which would be justified IMHO.

Crap

[dosanjh1 · 4 June 2005]

This movie provides nothing in the issues it discusses. All it does is sum up a couple of years of news, cram it into a hour and a half, call it self explosive and declare it a documentary.

Anybody who has been slightly troubled of the events of world history in the last few years will not find this documentary enlightening at all. It just regurgitates old information.

Having said that though the war is a terrible thing and any half-arsed attempt at bringing the perpetrates to justice is admirable and brave in the current climate of fear in the U.S.A.

I'm not sure if this is a made for TV documentary or a cinema piece, in either case the documakers should be held to account for poor journalism.

The narrator is a joke, he's like Troy Maclure from The Simpsons.

this film is a favorite of 'Truthers" and rabid antiSemites

[random-70778 · 26 February 2020]

This film is a favorite of 'Truthers" and rabid antiSemites. It is literally a litany of nonsense claims.