Terrorstorm

The latest in a seemingly endless stream of quickie documentaries lambasting the Bush White House, gadfly commentator/filmmaker Alex Jones' Terrorstorm suggests that elected governments are the genuine source of terrorism. Jones' argument has some grounding in reality: the Reichstag fire in Germany and the Gulf of Tonkin incident outside Vietnam are credibly put forth as examples of governments that manufactured mayhem in order to secure support for dubious policies. However, these isolated examples fail to establish a pattern of consistent government miscreant behavior, and the film very quickly devolves into a twin-engine roar: a shrill and tiresome condemnation of American and British policies in Iraq and in the war against al-Qaeda, combined with a rave against governments as being evil institutions that enslave unsuspecting populations. Terrorstorm is certainly not dull, by any stretch of the imagination, but the basic requirements of coherence (let alone fact checking) seem to have been abandoned here. Jones' case isn't helped by a bonus feature that includes babble from conspiracy theorists who fervently insist the 9/11 attacks were actually a Bush-planned inside job (Charlie Sheen, of all people, turns up!). Not recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)