Stream the documentary described as “a comprehensive and indispensable primer” into US politics
Of all the first world problems, these days one of the biggest is sifting the fake news from the real. This is not to say that the 2018 documentary Active Measures is presenting falsehoods, merely that it presents facts which can be perceived as bias. Frankly, who knows what to believe any more?
In what is hailed as the first major documentary to do so, director Jack Bryan addresses the allegations of “collusion” between the Trump campaign and agents of the Russian state. The suggestion is that Vladimir Putin is behind a 30-year history of covert political warfare.
US intelligence agencies have agreed Russia played a significant role in the outcome of this election, which Putin has obviously denied.
The film opens with the Russian President’s life story. A former KGB foreign intelligence officer, Putin served as President from 2000 to 2008, with a break in between to be Prime Minister because it’s against the rules to be President for three successive terms. Between 2008 and 2012, Putin and his buddy Dmitry Medvedev swopped leadership roles.
And that’s just the beginning.
Laying the foundation for playing its trump card, Active Measures – a term used in Soviet and Russian security services to describe “the actions of political warfare to influence the course of world events” – outlines a lurid tale of organised crime, money laundering, espionage, propaganda, stolen elections, fake news, internet trolling, cyber attacks, and ultimately, how this all affected the election of Donald Trump as President.
So much for the democratic election process.
US intelligence agencies have agreed Russia played a significant role in the outcome of this election, which Putin has obviously denied.
One of the questions posed to interviewee Michael McFaul, US Ambassador to Russia 2012-2014, is: “How does Russia launder money into America?” McFaul laughs and replies: “Everything that is interesting, I can’t tell you.”
Russians have a particular type of “mark”: somebody who has business resources, shady morals, and political connections or aspirations.
“I’ve just described Donald Trump,” says Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
These are just two of the many, many voices in this film. The list includes John McCain, Evan McMullin, Hillary Clinton (certainly no love lost between her and Putin, or Trump for that matter), John Podesta, James Woolsey, Clint Watts, Mikheil Saakashvili, John Dean, Jeremy Bash, Eric Swalwell, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Daniel Fried, Stephen Holmes (CIA) aka “Steven Hall”, Nina Burleigh, Michael Isikoff, Craig Unger, John Mattes, Steven Pifer, and Asha Rangappa.
Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter calls it “well researched and truly frightening … One of the doc’s strengths is the amazing number of ‘gets’ (onscreen interview subjects) procured by the filmmakers.”
Most certainly, these powerful, rational opinions are a strength, but during it’s almost two-hour run time, Active Measures tends to descend into the melodramatic, with audio and visual components (in highlighted upper case) competing with each other for attention, with increasing hysteria.
However, if this is your first foray into the dark and dirty world of international politics, Bruce DeMara of the Toronto Star says: “For anyone trying to navigate the labyrinth of personalities and events behind the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the last US presidential election, this film is a comprehensive and indispensable primer.”