Zeitgeist, The Movie is a 2007 documentary film exposé written and directed by Peter Joseph. A conspiracy movie in essence, the film is split into three focal points, namely the Jesus Myth, the 9/11 Attacks and the US Federal Reserve Bank system.
In terms of content, Zeitgeist proceeds as many other conspiracy stories do, basically by selectively presenting facts, arguing against established points of view but at the same time often failing to provide any references for the information it expounds. That said, the information and version of events that it does choose to put forward is extremely intelligently and logically done and as such Zeitgeist does intrigue you to the point where you start thinking about current world events – which is exactly what the movie’s intention is in the first place.
The film attempts to build one big picture by laying the foundation with the first segment and then following it up with the consecutive sections, and while this works well with segment three leaning quite nicely off segment two, but it must be said that this doesn’t work so well with segment one which comes across feeling very detached from the rest of the movie. In essence the film can be broken into these three statements. 1) Christianity is nothing more than a plagiarised myth, based in fact on Pagan Solar observations. Religion is nothing more than a tool for mass brainwashing. 2) The 9/11 attacks were nothing more than a staged event which has acted as a pretext for imperial mobilization. 3) The Federal Reserve Bank is nothing more than fraud on a governmental level and income tax is in fact completely unconstitutional.
These then further cement the film’s main point that it is trying to make – that the World is being silently controlled by a few powerful men (known simply as International Bankers here) and that they are moving the world towards a single state position where everyone is tracked and from which they can greatly line their pockets, even more so than what they are already doing. It does however funnily enough end on a fairly positive note, noting that by spreading enough ‘enlightenment’ around the world, this situation can be stopped and ultimately reversed.
Production-wise, Zeitgeist feels heavily over-produced at times, with heavy scatterings of dissonant noise, music, old and undated video-clips and voice overlays throughout but at the same time these elements work well together, fusing everything into one big conspiracy movie experience which manages to lead you into believing that you are somehow part of the enlightened few who have become part of the resistance just by watching this.
So, credit must be given to the director for craftily editing and splicing together a variety of footage and giving us an end result that is both highly convincing and utterly thought provoking at the same time then.
In summary, Zeitgeist is an over-edited, typical conspiracy advocate ‘documentary’, but that said, it pushes a lot of points across in a very believable manner and as such has enough meat and backing behind it to cause you to think just that little bit harder about the state of affairs with regards to both American current internal and foreign policies. The film has garnered a lot of international interest and so if you are the type of person who allows themself to entertain different perspectives and notions from society’s norm, then Zeitgeist may very well be worth the watch to you.
Related Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitgeist_(2007_Film)