Review: Ethos (2012)

[Mark R. Leeper]

ETHOS: A TIME FOR CHANGE
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)

CAPSULE: ETHOS: A TIME FOR CHANGE is a fast-paced
69 minutes filled with charges of conspiracies of
the rich and powerful in corporations and government
in their plan to take freedom from the masses and
plunge the world into a chaos of high prices and
global warming. Woody Harrelson is host and the
voice of writer and director Pete McGrain. There
may be a lot of foolishness in the particulars
presented, but McGrain may well be right about where
the modern world is leading. Rating: high +1
(-4 to +4) or 6/10

"The object of this documentary is to look at the flaws in our
systems that allow [bad] things to happen and the mechanisms that
actually work against us and to show you a very simple but powerful
way that we can actually change the world we live in." So says
writer and director Pete McGrain as spoken by Hollywood's great
voice of reason ... Woody Harrelson? ETHOS is a staccato
discharge of conspiracy charges against the common person putting
more wealth and power into the hands of a small number of very
wealthy and extremely powerful world manipulators. It only vaguely
tells us who these people are, but they seem to be the upper
echelons of a corporate-government alliance. Among the claims is
that the Rockefellers knew ahead of time that the September 11
attacks were coming and would be used to consolidate the power of
the government to control the people and steal their rights. All
these individual conspiracies, each damnable in itself, are just
part of a bigger and more global conspiracy to control a population
which will have given up all its rights for promised security from
invented threats.

The thing is, I like my conspiracies with a little more evidence
than McGrain gives himself time to present. He delivers a huge
list of charges and backs them up with testimony of famous authors
and quotes from famous people. He has Henry Ford railing against
the power of financiers. Funny, I had always thought that as an
expert on international affairs Ford knew a little about how to
make a factory work and not much beyond that. His views of the
international scene were strongly colored by his hatred and
distrust of the members of one particular religion.

One piece of the documentary is devoted to politicians who flip-
flop on their position or claims. We have Bill Clinton first
denying that he had sexual relations with Lewinsky and then later
admitting it. John McCain first saying that he thought gay
marriage should be allowed and later saying that he did not think
gay marriage should be legal. I am now convinced that politicians
may contradict themselves and sometimes their opinions on issues
actually change over time. So what? But I do not think that
McGrain really minds having the viewer unconvinced of his points.
He presents a shower of conspiracy theories from the Federal
Reserve's power to manipulate the economy anonymously to Monsanto's
part in poisoning our food. Some of his charges may be based on
fact or even be true. But it is hard to tell which ones.

This film is a Chamber of Possible Horrors. A staccato listing of
many possible conspiracies of varying degrees of credibility
challenges us with the statement that there are real conspiracies.
The suggestions have got to come fast because it is all packed into
a short 69-minute film, and there are a lot of conspiracies and
scary situations to get through. And no doubt some of what McGrain
is suggesting is indeed true, and no doubt some of it is absolute
balderdash. McGrain gives little evidence beyond quotes and
questionable testimony. Before the viewer has time to think about
one claim, McGrain has presented two more. What he presents lies
somewhere in the twilight zone between the Washington Post and the
Weekly World News.

And what is this solution for changing the world? That is
something of an anti-climax, though one most thoughtful people
would endorse. Even I do. It is to spend your money wisely. I
think he means spend it for the good of yourself, your children,
and the world. The consumer is all-powerful, because it is money
that makes the system work. The way we choose to spend our money
can change the world. That may well be true and I would endorse
his conclusion more than his arguments for that conclusion. It
would be an irony if he turns out overly optimistic about the
viability of that as a weapon to be marshaled. There may just be
too many of us who are too apathetic to be convinced.

Even if McGrain were wrong on most of his charges, he is probably
right on a few, and that is a sobering thought. The question is
which ones. I give this film a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale or
6/10. ETHOS: A TIME FOR CHANGE will be released on DVD on February
7, 2012.

Film Credits: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1707818/>


Mark R. Leeper
mle...@optonline.net
Copyright 2012 Mark R. Leeper
ETHOS: A TIME FOR CHANGE
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)

CAPSULE: ETHOS: A TIME FOR CHANGE is a fast-paced
69 minutes filled with charges of conspiracies of
the rich and powerful in corporations and government
in their plan to take freedom from the masses and
plunge the world into a chaos of high prices and
global warming. Woody Harrelson is host and the
voice of writer and director Pete McGrain. There
may be a lot of foolishness in the particulars
presented, but McGrain may well be right about where
the modern world is leading. Rating: high +1
(-4 to +4) or 6/10

"The object of this documentary is to look at the flaws in our
systems that allow [bad] things to happen and the mechanisms that
actually work against us and to show you a very simple but powerful
way that we can actually change the world we live in." So says
writer and director Pete McGrain as spoken by Hollywood's great
voice of reason ... Woody Harrelson? ETHOS is a staccato
discharge of conspiracy charges against the common person putting
more wealth and power into the hands of a small number of very
wealthy and extremely powerful world manipulators. It only vaguely
tells us who these people are, but they seem to be the upper
echelons of a corporate-government alliance. Among the claims is
that the Rockefellers knew ahead of time that the September 11
attacks were coming and would be used to consolidate the power of
the government to control the people and steal their rights. All
these individual conspiracies, each damnable in itself, are just
part of a bigger and more global conspiracy to control a population
which will have given up all its rights for promised security from
invented threats.

The thing is, I like my conspiracies with a little more evidence
than McGrain gives himself time to present. He delivers a huge
list of charges and backs them up with testimony of famous authors
and quotes from famous people. He has Henry Ford railing against
the power of financiers. Funny, I had always thought that as an
expert on international affairs Ford knew a little about how to
make a factory work and not much beyond that. His views of the
international scene were strongly colored by his hatred and
distrust of the members of one particular religion.

One piece of the documentary is devoted to politicians who flip-
flop on their position or claims. We have Bill Clinton first
denying that he had sexual relations with Lewinsky and then later
admitting it. John McCain first saying that he thought gay
marriage should be allowed and later saying that he did not think
gay marriage should be legal. I am now convinced that politicians
may contradict themselves and sometimes their opinions on issues
actually change over time. So what? But I do not think that
McGrain really minds having the viewer unconvinced of his points.
He presents a shower of conspiracy theories from the Federal
Reserve's power to manipulate the economy anonymously to Monsanto's
part in poisoning our food. Some of his charges may be based on
fact or even be true. But it is hard to tell which ones.

This film is a Chamber of Possible Horrors. A staccato listing of
many possible conspiracies of varying degrees of credibility
challenges us with the statement that there are real conspiracies.
The suggestions have got to come fast because it is all packed into
a short 69-minute film, and there are a lot of conspiracies and
scary situations to get through. And no doubt some of what McGrain
is suggesting is indeed true, and no doubt some of it is absolute
balderdash. McGrain gives little evidence beyond quotes and
questionable testimony. Before the viewer has time to think about
one claim, McGrain has presented two more. What he presents lies
somewhere in the twilight zone between the Washington Post and the
Weekly World News.

And what is this solution for changing the world? That is
something of an anti-climax, though one most thoughtful people
would endorse. Even I do. It is to spend your money wisely. I
think he means spend it for the good of yourself, your children,
and the world. The consumer is all-powerful, because it is money
that makes the system work. The way we choose to spend our money
can change the world. That may well be true and I would endorse
his conclusion more than his arguments for that conclusion. It
would be an irony if he turns out overly optimistic about the
viability of that as a weapon to be marshaled. There may just be
too many of us who are too apathetic to be convinced.

Even if McGrain were wrong on most of his charges, he is probably
right on a few, and that is a sobering thought. The question is
which ones. I give this film a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale or
6/10. ETHOS: A TIME FOR CHANGE will be released on DVD on February
7, 2012.

Film Credits: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1707818/>


Mark R. Leeper
mle...@optonline.net
Copyright 2012 Mark R. Leeper