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Activism See other Activism Articles Title: MOVIE REVIEW LA Times 'America: From Freedom to Fascism' Source: L A Times URL Source: http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/ ... freedom29sep29,0,1729381.story Published: Oct 14, 2006 Author: Mark Olsen Post Date: 2006-10-14 10:23:14 by christine Keywords: None Views: 64 Comments: 1 Aaron Russo's "America: From Freedom to Fascism" is essentially the filmmaking equivalent of an enraged blog on the Web — pointed and provocative, but not exactly a comprehensive source for the issues it addresses. A former talent manager and film producer, designer of women's undergarments and promoter of rock 'n' roll shows who has more recently emerged as a libertarian activist, Russo begins his film as a study of the federal government's right to collect income taxes. It's an idea that's elegant in its simplicity — what is the exact law that allows the government to demand our money? Perhaps not surprisingly, it turns out to be a trickier question than it seems, one that opens whole realms of legal and ideological debate. From there, Russo moves on to implicate the tax system as part of a wider plan to protect corporate banking interests at the expense of the general public. As the film wavers from its original premise, it never quite connects the dots the way Russo intends. Jumping from income tax to the gold standard to mandated identification cards to police state blah-blah-blah, the film's argument, as it becomes less specific, also becomes less credible and engaging. Russo's New York accent and rumpled bulk give his frequent on-camera appearances a certain rootsy, regular-guy charm. His use of rhetorical shortcuts, however, stopping and starting interview footage to re-contextualize the remarks of others or crosscutting to allow himself to add comments that blatantly do not match what he said at the time, reveals him as more agenda-driven slick than just-plain-folks inquisitive. The film raises more questions than it could possibly hope to answer fully, devolving from an intriguing look at an enticingly obscure issue into a more broadly based mess. 'America: From Freedom to Fascism' MPAA rating: Unrated A Cinema Libre release. Director-writer-producer Aaron Russo. Director of photography James Salisbury. Editors Russo, Gabe Miller. Running time: 1 hour, 49 minutes. Exclusively at Laemmle's Music Hall, 9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills (310) 274-6869. Poster Comment: "police state blah, blah, blah" (typical yuckyuck attitude) Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread   Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest #1. To: christine (#0) what is the exact law that allows the government to demand our money? And do you think that if he identified the true basis of the tax, and told people exactly why they are REQUIRED to pay the income tax, that he would be permitted to broadcast it nationwide? I would suspect that he got into the movie all that he was permitted to, and if he put more, or was more specific, the movie would not be distributed at all. For reference, see the first Post on Who Controls the United States, because it is the same people who control the media who own the very large chains of movie houses. The Solution is to apply, for the first time in the history of the United States, the Constitution to Washington, D.C. richard9151  posted on  2006-10-14   10:56:23 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply   Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest

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