All Governments Lie

Subtitled “Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone,” the title of filmmaker Fred Peabody's timely documentary comes from independent journalist I.F. Stone (1907-1989), author of the influential newsletter I.F. Stone's Weekly, who simply pronounced that “all governments lie.” Co-executive produced by Oliver Stone, this film pays tribute to I.F. Stone's brand of investigative reporting, spotlighting the work of some who are following in the writer's footsteps, including Ralph Nader, Rolling Stone feature writer Matt Taibbi, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman, Glenn Greenwald (who broke the Edward Snowden story), reporter John Carlos Frey (The Texas Observer), Young Turks host Cenk Uygur, filmmaker Jeremy Scahill (Dirty Wars), and all-around provocateur Michael Moore. While Richard Nixon, George Bush, Colin Powell, and LBJ are all seen in clips telling whoppers, the film's most prominent (and prescient) example of contemporary fibbing is then-candidate Donald Trump (Taibbi, in particular, has written scathing—and often raucous—high-octane takedowns of Trump). All Governments Lie is a bit scattershot, bouncing between Trump coverage, Frey's exposé of a mass burial of illegal migrants in south Texas, Uygur's short stint on MSNBC, and Scahill working on a piece about German involvement in U.S. drone operations, among other stories (along the way, various other figures praise Stone's trailblazing work, including Noam Chomsky). But the film successfully makes its overriding point: all governments lie—the Obama administration as well as the Trump administration—and with mainstream media somewhat tied to corporate interests, independent journalism similar to I.F. Stone's is critical to American democracy. Also featuring extended interviews, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)