This stunning film reminds us what’s at stake in the upcoming election
Films about income inequality don’t usually make waves and become surprise hits. But this stunning – and incredibly timely – documentary has proven to be an exception.
Requiem for the American Dream, featuring legendary dissident intellectual Noam Chomsky, has moved to the top of streaming video charts over the past few months – and it’s not difficult to understand why. The film may have been made in 2016, but it speaks with remarkable clarity and urgency to a range of issues that have moved to the forefront of American consciousness during the coronavirus pandemic and the 2020 presidential campaign.
Directed by award-winning filmmakers Peter Hutchison, Kelly Nyks, and Jared P. Scott, Requiem for the American Dream combines Noam Chomsky’s rare explanatory powers with breathtaking visuals to dissect decades of government policies that have benefited corporations and the super-rich at the expense of ordinary Americans and the basic functioning of our democracy. The result is at once a remarkable piece of cinema and a powerful reminder of what’s at stake in the upcoming election.
“Chomsky tells this compelling horror story with moral authority and charismatic calm. The camera seems to speak his mind, moving back and forth between his memorable face, historical footage, vivid images, and collages cut from the currency of greed.”
— Dr. Nancy Folbre | Author, Greed, Lust and Gender: A History of Economic Ideas
“Brilliant. Chomsky is a master of distilling complex histories and powers into their most essential elements.”
— Dr. Wendy Brown | Author, In the Ruins of Neoliberalism: The Rise of Anti-Democratic Politics in the West
“This short, sharp, smart film serves as one of the best entry points to the discussion of inequality.”
— The Hollywood Reporter
“[Chomsky] melds history, philosophy and ideology into a sobering vision of a society in an accelerating decline.”
— The New York Times
“Could very well be embraced as the final word on economic inequality in the United States.”
— RogerEbert.com
“Chomsky’s critique extends beyond left and right, resulting in a lucid analysis that’s breathtaking in its simplicity, and all the more scary for it.”
— TimeOutNy
“If you want to understand neoliberalism in the U.S. over the past 40 years, you must watch Requiem for the American Dream.”
— Dr. Robert Pollin | Distinguished University Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
