The Trials of Henry Kissinger

This is the way a documentary should be done! I like it much more than "Bowling For Columbine," which doesn't fully justify its' positions as well as this film does. The filmmaker here interviews people from all sides of the political spectrum to illustrate why this man who seems so likeable in the public eye is in fact responsible for the most secretive, heinous attrocities in modern American history. The film also offers a disturbing portrait of American foreign policy and is made more poignant by the climate of current events. Clearly, one also has to wonder how we can justify bringing people like Radovan Karadic for heinous war crimes when we have such criminals in our own backyard. And, if we truly are the policemen of the world, then maybe it's time we clean up the force. Very good film. Should be considered the best of 2002, with "The Two Towns of Jasper" a close second.

The news of Henry Kissinger being selected to head the commission to investigate the Sept. 11 attacks makes seeing the new documentary, `The Trials of Henry Kissinger,' required viewing.

Based on a book by Christopher Hitchins, the film shows many former Kissinger supporters - including Nixon speech-writer, William Safire - calling the former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State secretive, a liar and even a war criminal.

Kissinger's Cold War schemes of bombing Cambodia, the genocidal invasion of East Timor by Indonesia and the coup and related atrocities in Chile are all well researched in this 80 minute film.

One of the many documentary interviewees is René Schneider Jr. His father, Gen. René Schneider, was head of the Chilean military when Allende was first elected. The general was killed during an attempt to kidnap him, as he was staunchly committed to the constitution, and would not bow to a coup against Allende. Evidence points to Kissinger directing that botched kidnapping.

Near the end of the film, Schneider is asked if he planned to press charges against Kissinger for his role. His response was, `we are considering it.' The date when charges finally were first reported in the //New York Times// was Sept. 11, 2001. The $3 million civil suit against Kissinger quickly faded into the background in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

With Kissinger to chair the Sept. 11 probe, things appear to have come full circle now.

This is an indictment. You'll have to read Kissinger's memoirs for the defense. I'm not planning on doing that myself, time constraints and other things to do being what they are.

In this 80-minute documentary, director Eugene Jarecki follows the intent of the book by Christopher Hitchens, which was to put Kissinger on trial before a world court with himself as prosecutor. By the way, note the slight, but perhaps significant difference in the title: the book is The Trial (singular) of Henry Kissinger. In a strange way the plural title of this documentary almost suggests The Struggles of Henry Kissinger, which would be irony number one.

I also thought it strange that Jarecki doesn't include Hitchens in the credits. I would say, one wonders why, but I really don't care.

What I care about here is:

First, the incredible irony of Kissinger being a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. But then one recalls that Yasser Arafat also won one of those. Maybe I should win the literary prize for writing this review.

Second, the bizarre irony of Kissinger being a German Jew with relatives who died in the concentration camps becoming a man who ends up regarding his fellow human beings with the same sort of cattle to the slaughter mentality that characterized the Nazis. I think Henry called it "realpolitik."

Third, the slippery irony of Kissinger working for Democrat Lyndon Johnson, liberal Republican Nelson Rockefeller, and conservative Republican Richard Nixon, while having loyalty only to his own lust to power and his delight in exercising it.

Fourth, the comedic irony that now in the 21st century, decades after the fact, with Kissinger in his eighties, we get a call for a war crimes trial. Is this some kind of joke?

Fifth, the theoretical irony of realizing that it is Kissinger himself who believed that heads of state (and their top lieutenants) operate according to laws different than those imposed on private citizens because people in such elevated positions are often faced with only "a choice of evils," and so inevitably end up doing evil themselves.

Sixth, the media circus irony of Henry Kissinger being thought of as sexy and a Playgirl kind of centerfold because "power is the ultimate aphrodisiac," an image that delighted Kissinger who was quoted in the New York Times (Jan 19, 1971) as saying "Power is the great aphrodisiac."

Seventh, the judicial irony of Kissinger being put on trial for war crimes when it was his boss, the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, who had the ultimate responsibility for what happened in, for example, Cambodia.

Finally, it may be a kind of historical irony that it is George W. Bush who is most adamant that the US not give authority to a World Court that might try American government officials.

This is an easy documentary to view, done according to the "Sixty Minutes" formula. We are shown official documents with blacked out lines, archival footage, and interviews with some of the people who are still alive. There's Nixon's one time Chief of Staff Alexander Haig who sticks up for Kissinger (his old boss), but there is also the son of Chilean General Schneider who was assassinated in order to bring the horrific Pinochet to power and to protect American interests. And of course, the documentary reports that the principal indictee himself, Henry Kissinger, refused to be interviewed.

However I think the emphasis in any documentary that covers the material that this one covered should have been on our Cold War foreign policy itself (hardly original or unique to Kissinger), a policy that led the United States to commit and support the most amazing atrocities in the name of anti-communism, atrocities for which we are still paying the cost in world opinion, especially in the Middle East.

I should note that there's something wrong with the DVD in that it gives great close ups of the talking heads, but truncates their names and titles.

I also didn't care much about that.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

If you don't know who the 80 year old Kissinger is, you may want to pass on this film. However, if you watched his career as an intellectual, statesman, Playgirl centerfold, master of doublespeak, and perpetual bad hair day guy, then you may find this documentary compelling. The film is a credible and balanced indictment, given time constraints, which tells of Kissinger's rise to power and ultimate abuse of that power which, hindsight being 20:20, contributed substantially to the killing fields of Cambodia, the horrific war in East Timor, and an assassination in Chile which led to a brutal dictatorship in which American interests were strictly commercial. Directly or Indirectly, the renown Nobel Laureate de faux pas, may have caused the unjustifiable deaths of enough innocents to qualify him as a war criminal and yet today he has sufficient credibility to gain appointment, though short lived, as top cop in the 911 disaster investigation, still serves as CEO of his own consulting firm, and leaves the telltale odor of megaloegomania wherever he goes. An intriguing digest of Hitchens book of the same name. (B)

'The Trials of Henry Kissinger', directed by Eugene Jarecki and written by Alex Gibney (adapted from Christopher Hitchens' book) is definitely a film that, if it were actually given a wide enough audience, would provoke some fairly strong reactions. Not knowing a lot about Kissinger other than he is a successful and generally well-respected American diplomat, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I knew that the subject matter would be fairly inflammatory.

My assumption was correct, and the film provides some very compelling facts that aren't just food for thought; it is a veritable feast. Essentially, Kissinger is accused of, throughout his career, orchestrating actions and events that not only make him appear to be egotistical and Machiavellian, but basically a war criminal as well. Among the many topics covered in this 80 minute documentary are Kissinger's rise to prominence, the bombing of Cambodia, his involvement with the genocide in East Timor and the coup in Chile. Kissinger's rise hit a crescendo during the Nixon administration, and while Alexander Haig is still staunchly supportive of him, others such as William Safire are calling him a liar and criminal on camera. I have not read Hitchens' book of the same name, (though I am familiar with his work with the publication Vanity Fair) but if the excellent research in 'The Trials of Henry Kissinger' is any indication, the book must be an intelligent and compelling one worth looking at.

I am honestly not remotely familiar enough with the events and topics that were raised to form a solid enough opinion regarding Kissinger himself, but 'The Trials of Henry Kissinger' serves as a well-researched and thorough primer regarding Kissinger's rise and involvement in said events and topics.

The film also gets my greatest stamp of approval – I want to dig deeper into this subject so that I CAN form an opinion, and 'The Trials of Henry Kissinger' is the reason behind this need for further research. Inflammatory, but extremely thought-provoking, 'The Trials of Henry Kissinger' is a film that should be viewed. 8/10

Shelly