Generation Zero (2010) User Reviews (20)

Deceptive mind games with a sense of humor

[coldsnout · 3/10 · 8 May 2010]

I give this film three stars because that's about how many true statements it contains. But firstly, this director uses the same psychological machinations that the latest president's political consultants used to get him elected - cognitive dissonance (tension which comes from holding two conflicting or unconnected thoughts in the mind at the same time). The images on the screen hold very little or no reinforcement of what the narrator is saying, and usually distracts from the point. They do, however, reinforce multitudinous snide innuendos.

I could only absorb what was said by not watching the screen, but only listening. Listening was made difficult because the music (also distracting and irrelevant) was way too loud. In order to hear the narratives, you have to turn up the volume and put up with ear-splitting music apparently also designed to enhance the dissonance.

The "meat" of the film is that there are cycles in society which lead to war, peace, prosperity and change. Guess which one we're in. This doomsday presentation traces all the blame to a US generation that is easy to make fun of, with no tenable connection, for the debt and inflation explosion at the inevitable disaster. I've not read all the books by the scholars interviewed, but I'm familiar enough with the liberal organizations they associate themselves with. Economics is the result of more than just opinions, but productivity, creativity and policy. They correctly point out the flaws in the recent (post 2008) desperate machinations of the Fed and US Treasury, but offer no solutions, evasive actions we may take, or even useful warnings.

I found tongue-in-cheek humor in the images that flash continuously past the viewer. Some, like a flash of suckling piglets on a sow's abdomen or the many scenes of exploding buildings, appear so ridiculous in view of the narration that if you turned off the sound, this could be an entertaining film.

Expect to be alarmed, depressed and confused by this film, not enlightened or edified.

A parade of "serious" people pasted together to present a confused message

[rzajac · 3/10 · 12 February 2017]

The best thing I can tell you about this flick is that watching it is a useful exercise, of a sort. It does one welcome thing, which is to exhort us to use our heads, and thereby do honor to a long line of head- using progenitors in western civ.

So: Watch the movie while keeping this in mind: The flick will from time to time try to throw in an inducement to indulge a knee-jerk emotional revulsion to some boogum or other; for example, the "hippies".

Hold back. Follow the better angels of your thoughtful, circumspect self and listen to the welter of "serious" thinkers as the presentation attempts to marshal them toward a larger view of the current "crisis". What I think you'll see (not feel) is that the attempt to deliver a broad, convincing, explanatory perspective falls flat. The individuals spliced into the presentation may each have something interesting to say, but the pageant of this documentary fails to knit them into something cogent and convincing.

There are so, so many ways to interpret economic reality which are much, much more compelling than this rather confused, disparate patchwork.

I watched this for one reason: Bannon (the writer/editor) is now (2017/02) on the NSC. He's the dog who caught the car. I wanted to see if perhaps this documentary would have embedded in it a hint or two as to anything Bannon may be able to claim in the way of praxis: In other words, one would wish that, once the dog catches the car, it turns out to be a magic car that breaks the spell and turns Bannon from a dog into a statesman with a clear, focused perspective; one which contextualizes economic reality in a practical way, suggesting a way forward into what he calls "economic nationalism".

This flick doesn't give me hope. For example, it will not surprise me if his response to the hard economic reality which promises only to continue to rob American futurity is to exercise heavy power. And that's just the old standby/more of the same: Keep us on the hamster wheel, and throw monetary tokens into the pit and torch them--just like in days gone by. He doesn't really have a truly republican vision.

What a load of garbage

[radeckie · 1/10 · 29 November 2010]

Wow, i've never seen such a ridiculous piece of right-wing propaganda in my life. With a straight face, they actually try to make the case that the 2008 financial crash was the fault of...get this... 1960s hippies. Yes, you heard me correctly, it was The LIBRULS!!11!!!!!1 The crash didn't happen because of deregulation, corruption and financial deepening - no, it was because Americans lost their 'morals' and began consuming conspicuously. that's right. the consumer's fault. we did this. oh, and the democrats, of course.....and the Chinese for some reason.

This is a sad attempt to say that this wasn't capitalism's fault - that it was a perversion of capitalism with too much government intervention.

Drink the Right Wing Kool Aid.

[h_jin3 · 1/10 · 24 November 2011]

I usually enjoy documentaries. I want to know what caused the financial crisis of 2008. Books like "When Genius Failed," "The Big Short," and "Liar's Poker," really shed light on Wall St's ugly side and the tricks they used to engineer the collapse of 2008. Unfortunately this garbage of a documentary largely fails at explaining anything but instead injects completely biased opinions ranging from Godlessness, to Saul Alinsky as reasons for our economic despair. REALLY?!! This film covers the usual right wing Kool Aid topics like, Hippies, Godlessness, 50's mothers (women), Community Reinvestment Act, ACORN, too much regulation, you've heard all this garbage before on Youtube commentaries but this movie lumps it them in one long propaganda film. The non stop music starts to grate on your nerves and is a shameless attempt to manipulate your emotions. Unfortunately morons will use this film as an echo chamber to their already warped sense of what is happening in this world.

Perspicacious

[Colorado Boja · 29 June 2011]

In light of the book just put out by a liberal New York Times writer who draws many of the same conclusions the movie does -- and traces the problems back to many of the same decisions made by those in government getting rich off crony capitalism and holes in the regulatory structure they themselves put in place, I'd say our Canadian friend who gave this a one star review might want to put on his thinking cap next time before opening his big sneering maw.

A very nice visual addendum to that book, Reckless Endangerement.

The fact is, we didn't just get where we are by accident; and though many don't want to hear it, actual decisions made by actual politicians trying to control a business sector whose job it is to make profit led directly to the current economic crisis. It's easy to promise people everything they want, to tell them they deserve it, and to run on a platform of "the other side wants to take it all away from you." But the truth is, money has to come from somewhere, and the government can't produce wealth. It can only collect it, spend it, and redistribute it after taking its cut. The sooner people understand economics, the faster we'll be able to fix what ails us.

woeful

[jeff_strobel · 1/10 · 11 June 2014]

Cherry picking generality while purposely omitting facts does not make for an accurate documentary. Banks "too big to fail" and the collapse of the housing market came as a result of the deregulation of banking which started in 1978 under Reagan. TARP, while very flawed under Obama, was started by Bush. Bush also cut taxes while opting to take the US to war in Afghanistan & Iraq. More spending with less revenue results is a bigger problem. Plenty of mistakes have been make by both sides. The sad reality is that the primary role of an elected official is to raise funds to get re-elected. Doing what's correct is a career ending move. Instead of spending money on this drivel, give that money to charity (not a PAC).

Got Agenda?

[rbry-9-226237 · 1/10 · 24 May 2014]

This movie has politicians in it. Need I say more. Now you can do the critical thinking or you can give them credit and think they are the good guys. But they are now trying to gain your trust and get your votes by claiming to be for the people. They are set up under lies such as "Citizens United" where David Bossie openly admits that a great way to persuade is through movies. He is behind other movies such as Occupy Unmasked where the occupy protesters are claimed to use violence and intimidation. This movie is another "tactic" to gain trust when in reality people knew about the financial crisis in 2008 and who is behind it. Watch David Bossie's productions with cautious reserve. They like to tell some truth mixed with lies and an agenda that will keep lining their pockets and those they serve.

Don't waste your time - no real facts in this "Documentary"

[timerider10 · 1/10 · 4 December 2011]

This is a right wing attack ad disguised as a documentary.There are no real facts presented, just the normal right wing rants about how everyone who doesn't agree with their view point is ruining the country.Democrats = communists,all regulations are strangling the business world,social programs are bleeding us dry, etc. At least they could have tried to make this interesting but no the constant attacks on everyone but Wall Street and so self righteous that after less than a quarter of the documentary it starts to grate on your nerves. Hippies, Godlessness, 50's mothers (women), Community Reinvestment Act, ACORN, too much regulation caused the 2008 crash! REALLY?!! If you don't think but follow along and believe all the right wing crap this film will appeal to you, otherwise don't bother watching this.

Mostly Correct

[mpga-396-806205 · 8/10 · 25 December 2016]

Disclaimer: I'm a former hedge fund guy.

Did I see the crash coming? Yes, but barely.

My fund, and a fund I represented, had mucho skin in game tied to domestic interest rates and LIBOR. So, I wanted...willed...all to be fine.

Didn't work.

1/6 of all hedge funds crashed, and didn't cost the tax payers a penny. Like a noncompetitive mom&pop restaurant, they were correctly left to fail.

Core of crash was three-pronged:

1: Federal Reserve: They've created boom/busts for 100 years. How? Just as Soviets couldn't centrally plan the price of a pencil, wheat, or gold, no one on earth can correctly centrally plan the price of money.

2: Federal Government: Goes back to the Community Reinvestment Act, forcing banks to lend to people, regardless of credit rating. Hey, I want ALL people to be rich. But, selectively punishing banks for not lending "enough" to certain racial groups is evil, anti-market, and proved to be, destructive. Banks love to lend...love it, and care not of one's race, gender, or sexual orientation. They absolutely do care if one can pay back a loan.

Think I cared the race of my clients investing $5 million, $1 million, or even in my entry level fund, $250K?

3: Wall Street(creation of CDOs etc), rating agencies (rated garbage as "A"), and Fannie and Freddie (bought garbage mortgages,and therefore, encouraged them) played huge role in this mess too. But, without items 1 and 2, 3 would have been impossible.

An overlooked and omitted fact

[danshawen · 1/10 · 12 March 2017]

The pentagon "lost" 6.5 trillion, that's right, with a 't' dollars. Never been accounted for. Know where it went? I saw it happen. For decades, the pentagon handed out DoD credit cards like they were a broken candy machine. The money went for furniture, entertainment, kegs of beer, pros, etc. Lots of small charges spread around tend to inflate that deficit you seem so worried about. We get the idea.

Did you just "forget" about that government expenditure, Steve, or were you on that gravy train also? Did you use any DoD money to produce this piece of fiscal documentary?

So, your new boss seems all interested in blowing trillions more on defense. Why is that, exactly?

Just get out, you Marxist wannabe. "Breitbart" = "wide beard", and Karl Marx had the widest beard ever. We get it. Did you tell your new pal your political secret? Go polish Andrew's tombstone or get a job on Fox News or something more constructive than what you are doing, because you really haven't got a half a clue about anything remotely political or economic.

Logical and well researched if a bit scurrilous

[pete-386-424115 · 8/10 · 2 June 2012]

I can tell by the above reviewers that this film made them angry. The fact that this film succeeded in making people angry, alone, lends it credence on at least SOME level. The claims made that this documentary is propaganda are common to pretty much all documentaries. All documentaries are propaganda even as they are almost never presented as such.

This piece of filmmaking takes an approach that is both effective and entertaining while pushing its narrative down a track that is most interesting, indeed. I highly suggest you give it a look.

After all, if folks are outraged by it, you can be sure that it has merit. Or, you could be as closed minded as some and use words of the false LEFT/RIGHT paradigm such as "right-wing" or "neocon" or "socialist" or "left-wing".

The other option is for you to give the film a look and take from it what you believe to be truthful. That's what I did and I was very entertained. I even learned a little bit.

A valuable contribution for our time

[arcanabooks · 7/10 · 2 December 2016]

Based on an external historic evidence content,the film is a plain,straightforward perspective of not too often analyzed as a sequence but,nevertheless important view of historical,social,financial and political events in our time.It is a powerful expose of evolving moral and social values of western society. Set in somewhat limited, but broad sociopolitical context,it serves not only as a message of warning,but as a generational appeal as well.Presented without a commentary by any opposing,converging ,or even a similar point of views, the film easily invites a flood of critical attacks. There is also perhaps some to be desired on its composition,editing choices,sound to images.etc.

Entertaining, great visuals, plausible conclusion

[will-hickie · 8/10 · 9 May 2011]

If you're a baby boomer you will probably not like this movie.

Generation Zero takes a look at modern post WWI history and attempts to define where certain cycles begin and end, thus framing the motives and desires of the population in terms of where they fit in the cycle. Unlike many other movies in this genre it refreshingly doesn't get bogged down in conspiracy theories and new world order memes.

Many of the ideas expressed in Generation Zero are not entirely new, but this is the first time I've seen them all presented together in one place. The cast is quite interesting, with a few well-known names, and does a decent job of explaining the various arguments and their subtlties.

I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who wants a quick, obviously abridged, history lesson. It pulls together many different factoids and personalities from as many different eras in an easy to digest way that most people would not experience otherwise.

I only gave it an 8 out of 10 because it avoided disenting opinions and pretty much left out WWI entirely. Otherwise it was one of better documentaries on this topic that I've seen.

What are the correct facts missing from this film ?????

[tcziifle · 21 November 2012]

For all those who felt this film is just more right wing propaganda based on zero facts, I would appreciate their individual explanations calling out who, what, when, where, how and why we are now facing our "fiscal cliff" and potential economic meltdown.

It is one thing to scream "propaganda" from a shallow emotional perspective however; without providing some intelligent facts to reasonably explain your opposite viewpoint or perspective, you just appear to parroting back a completely uninformed response of "No, that's not it!" Please explain what you know factually - not emotionally - are the root causes of our fiscal cliff and potential economic meltdown.

A day of reckoning, laid out 6 years ago by the man now advising Trump45

[dana-37532 · 10/10 · 20 November 2016]

As I write this, President-Elect Donald J. Trump has announced that the Writer/Director of this documentary is his Chief Strategist. Let that soak in for awhile and maybe watch this entire film again. I'll wait.

So, a day of reckoning approaches, January 20th 2017 in fact, when the Grey Champion assumes command. This film lays out in rigid order the 5 W's; who, what, when, where, and why of, How did America get into this mess. 20 TRILLION dollars in debt! Destitute citizens, abused by fiscal policies that left them behind! Cities caving in on themselves, industries hollowed out, joblessness and poverty. This prescient film answers these charges, pointing at the guilty, and shows clearly the outlines of the problem. But to act? Who and when?

The production values are superb, shot and cut to the standards we expect from high end producers. My only complaint is the intensity level, there is a lot to absorb in 90 minutes. I watched it in chunks.

As to the content, little of it has been allowed any examination from the traditional, legacy media, which is no surprise, as the election of Trump45 so devastatingly exposed them all as Democrats with a byline. This material will be eye opening to many people, who have been lied to by their trusted news sources.

Its about time

[alleytomk · 8/10 · 13 February 2017]

I watched this for the first time today (Feb 2017) and it is a great movie, it gives an accurate accounting of why we are where we are here in America right now. This is why Trump got elected, both the Democrats and Republicans aligned themselves with the wall street bankers and sold us (the middle class) out. The press was involved by not reporting the truth about what was going on with sub prime mortgages because the banks were being forced to loan money to people who were not creditworthy. According to the movie the disintegration of our culture is the root cause of our current situation, I would take the spoiling of American children in the 1950s as the direct cause with a grain of salt, but the events portrayed in the movie from the 1970s to present are accurate. I highly recommend you take the time and watch it, too bad it is not shown in schools.

Groundbreaking and Accurate Documentary

[riekefamily · 9/10 · 21 April 2013]

While it's true that more documentation is needed for some of the details presented in Generation Zero, the salient points of the movie can hardly be disputed--crisis budget cutbacks for the U.S. military causing our national defense capability to slip, banks that are "too big to fail" purposely deceiving investors over the quality of the home loans they once issued, etc. Of course, researchers like Michael Barone, Charles Krauthammer, and Newt Gingrich are well-respected and well able to provide documentation for any points they raise. Generation Zero should be regarded as serious history and serious journalism in a very user-friendly and entertaining format.

If you think he didn't blame Wall Street then you smoke MUCH crack

[michael-69243 · 9/10 · 10 February 2017]

Anybody attacking this film is just someone with a list of talking points and an agenda to disparage it. If you didn't like the visuals then you don't get the term metaphor and if you say he blames everybody but Wall Street (ygbfkm) you didn't watch it or you smoke much crack.

The movie explains how we've come to the edge of a world wide financial tsunami. Personally for me, the tipping point was devastating one two punch that tied together; (1) the amount of leverage given to the big 5 banks during Clinton's term where they increased their leverage by 30 to 1 and (2) making the taxpayers responsible for their losses while they keep ALL the gains. Those two acts just poured gas on the fire...it removed any accountability and encouraged financial recklessness that in any other universe that would be considered a criminal malfeasance.

(Yo Cupcake, that's just one example where the movie takes square aim at Wall Street as well as the Big Government elite of the time. I'll bet Bill Clinton got paid for that deal)

Steve Bannon is no friend to Wall Street or Big Government and I would be so happy if this administration has a plan to finally hold some people like Hank Paulson accountable for the financial crimes perpetrated in 2008.

Excellent - not just confined to 2008 Economic Crisis

[Hay8there · 10/10 · 22 April 2017]

Got much more from this documentary than we expected! It did a very good job of critiquing the Economic Crisis of 2008 and assigning responsibility. And the film also did an excellent job of addressing the historical cultural developments and their contributions. We had not seen that "full picture" before. This film provides insight into the current national conditions that still exist. Highly recommend. It's better than some of the other so- called factual documentaries out there on what led to 2008 meltdown.

Leftist Pile-on Rhetoric Not Helpful

[rab_uls · 10/10 · 22 August 2018]

Haven't seen this, but reading typical left-wing, detractors, pile-on rhetoric has me thrilled to see what Generation Zero says. Yes, the radical left wing conspiracy hatched 100 years ago is alive and well. Who knows how well this was produced, but since leftists in charge of media, entertainment, education, academia, Big Government, Big Christianity, Big Corporate, Big Etc won't permit and honestly debate dissenting views. Whatever is censored MUST be consumed! Will update stars later.