Noam Chomsky – Rebel Without A Pause
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: B- Main Program: B
Rebel Without A Pause (2003) is one of many
DVDs on the market containing the daring, bold and always interesting thoughts
and dissent of Noam Chomsky. The
marketers at Docurama realize this and put a sticker on the case that said this
was the best “movie” on Chomsky since Manufacturing Consent. Well, that could be said of any title
released with Chomsky on it, including The Corporation, because you can
never hear enough Chomsky. That is
simply because even if you disagree with some or many of the things he says,
the media is so oversaturated and lopsided with monolithic points of view
telling you how to think, he breaks that ice.
I have seen most of the Chomsky titles on the market and
can tell you that this repeats and overlaps footage and ideas from the others,
but that does not matter. See and hear
him in action any way you can. Of the
top ten voices of dissent sited in a recent pool of colleges nationally, he was
the only living voice, ranking 6th place. That’s impressive.
Funniest of all, with such sludge and yellow journalism even coming from
PBS as much as Fox, NBC, CBS and ABC, its like hearing it for the first time at
times.
The 1.33 X 1 analog NTSC image and Dolby Digital 2.0 sound
is just fine for such footage and consistent with the good quality of previous
Chomsky releases. Extras include a
two-frame text statement by the director, trailers and explanation about the
Docurama imprint, two crew text biographies and 38:33 of additional footage of
Chomsky speaking to the issues. That
furthers the information-rich, “greatest hits” nature of this DVD, so catch it,
especially if you actually have never heard of him before.
- Nicholas Sheffo
