The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom

The arguments are no more intelligent than Michael Moore's, but they are far better presented.

Curtis dissects our world with a precision scalpel and says "Well, there's your problem" once again. Concepts and theories get your mind buzzing and a disparate tapestry of footage is shown, as a unifying logical strand weaves it all together. While watching it's hard to know what to feel: angry, enlightened, appalled. One thing to be certain of is a feeling of admiration for Curtis' prowess in constructing brilliant documentaries.

A superb documentary series. Combined with his two earlier efforts, THE CENTURY OF THE SELF and THE POWER OF NIGHTMARES, Curtis presents a remarkable account of the processes and tendencies shaping our world.

If anyone has to depress me regarding the state of society and the messed-up path we took to get there, leading to the inevitable conclusion of my uneventful life that includes a rubber hose and a cage of wild ferrets, let it be Adam Curtis.

Curtis is one of a handful of directors who can present a powerful opinion without being a complete twat about it, though psychopaths may have something to say about being compared to economists: "Only two groups in society behave in a rational, self-interested way in all experimental situations: one is economists themselves, the other, psychopaths."

Curtis has yet to disappoint. Visually arresting, beautiful to listen to, and serving as a bridge between the programming of the individual/masses detailed in Century of the Self and the shortsighted, blowback-creating policy decisions in Power of Nightmares. The Trap is also a greater integrated commentary on the emptiness of modern liberal life, and may in fact be the most sweeping indictment by Curtis of the contradictory and perverted systems that we live in.

Yet another haunting and well-documented film from Adam Curtis, one that gracefully tackles some really difficult subjects: game theory during the Cold War, the latter 20th century's rationalization of individuals being entirely motivated by self-interests, the crippling of social mobility in the West, and the contemporary (and ever-changing) definitions of "democracy" and "freedom" in the world. Curtis logically strings all of these things together to explain our current state. Essential.

Compelling treatment of freedom from the 20th century until today. The style of the film, combining primarily found footage, instrumental music, occasional interviews, and voice-over narration, works to under gird the vast implications of Curtis' argument. While the assessment of how we got here is solid, Curtis' attempt to point the way forward falters in two ways: he doesn't show that positive liberty can be accomplished without tyranny, and he doesn't escape a rationalist concept of freedom.

Curtis touches on a number of different subjects in this documentary. The central thesis is that our modern ideal of freedom is inextricably linked to the idea of the "free market". The Trap is sprawling, and not entirely successful at connecting all the dots. Nevertheless, I believe that the gist of the argument is correct: our modern idea of freedom is frequently defined as the freedom from taxation, regulation and outside control, rather than freedom from inequality and injustice.

This is something that every person should see. It so perfectly highlights the flaws underlying one of the foundational assumptions people have about the way things work.