All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

Another set of films that highlight how the crossroads of utopian solutions, oversimplification, misunderstanding, hubris, and ideology contribute to creating an unexamined foundational set of assumptions about civilization and humanity.

One of the most interesting documentaries I've seen in the last few years, examining how elements such as politics, economy, genetics and technology influence each other, and how seemingly small actions can have huge and terrible consequences. It's fascinating, painful, depressing and frightening to see how mankind often has no idea what it's doing. The editing, footage and use of music were amazing. Recommended to everyone.

A bunch of crazy people try to control the world with math. Unintended consequences. Roy Orbison.

It at times is reductionistic in order to preserve the main thesis of a second revolution of mechanical philosophy, while at the same time meandering into for example Ayn Rands personal life in an unnecessary but interesting story of hypocricy. It puts forward extremely thought-provoking ideas and sheds new light unto recent events to the extent of leaving you with the impression that the documentary was made in 2050.

Curtis is an intelligent and clever filmmaker, but he is also deliberately propagandizing various issues into one big bad science myth in order to make his point come across. In this manner he's not that different from the politicians he clearly detests. And he needs a change of soundtrack.

Adam Curtis is the great documentary storyteller, conveyor of ideas by audiovisual means, and moralist of our times. This series ranges widely but always purposefully through material including Ayn Rand, Buckminster Fuller, Norbert Wiener, John Von Neumann, William Hamilton and many others, tied together by an investigation of mechanistic conceptions of life and cognitivist conceptions of human thinking and behaviour. Immensely pleasurable viewing.

Very interesting, but it didn't go where I expected it to.

I don't even think this should really be on Criticker, but I watched all 3 hours, so fuck it. All Watched Over is much more intricate than what the synopsis would have you believe. Using a general theme of the ultimate failure of the computer age, Curtis is able to touch upon topics like free will, economics, the role of power and love in human actions, ecology, eugenics, and imperialism. It's a lot to digest, but I think anyone would shocked by what unfolds.

An extremely well-crafted and engaging exposé of the systemic problems with a complex, intertwined list of economical, sociopolitical, ideological and scientific theories of the late 20th century, brilliantly structured around the individuals at the center of it all. Essential viewing - nothing less.

Work of Adam Curtis always stimulates the right spot of my brain. This is fascinating information presented in easy to understand and entertaining way. It doesn't make life any easier, though. Human race is FUBAR.