Corridors of Power: Should America Rule the World? (BBC Four) | iPlayer
The Storm Foretold (BBC Four) | iPlayer
Paris Olympics 2024 (BBC/Eurosport/Discovery+)
Slip (ITVX) | itv.com
What can one say about Dror Moret's BBC Four documentary series, “Corridors of Power: Should America Police the World?”? It's a scathing indictment of a superpower that only intervenes in global atrocities when it serves its own interests. It fills the viewer with despair and disgust. It begins with the Nazi death camps of World War II (a genocide ignored at the time) and vows “never again”, then goes on to prove with each soul-crushing episode that it is allowed to happen “again”.
Narrated by Meryl Streep, Moret repurposed the footage and interviews to create an eight-part director's cut of the 2022 documentary, “Corridors of Power.” Some of the impressive roster of big names interviewed (Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice) have since passed away, including several former secretaries of state (Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger).
Eight episodes are available, the opening one dealing with Iraq. When Saddam Hussein uses chemical weapons against the Kurds he is only condemned, but when he invades oil-rich Kuwait he is denounced by President George H.W. Bush as “a second coming of Hitler” (“People used to say that if Kuwait had grown bananas, we would never have liberated Kuwait,” said former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz). Next comes Bosnia and the ethnic cleansing of Slobodan Milosevic (under President Bill Clinton, the US is very slow to intervene). In the face of genocide in Rwanda, the US withdraws after evacuating its own people. When genocide breaks out in Darfur, the US sends aid, but it takes a coup to overthrow Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir.
The film continues and ends with an examination of President Barack Obama's overly cautious response to Syria's worsening nightmare, the refugee exodus and its consequences. The point is made that sometimes peace must be chosen over justice, while at every turn there is a high-level debate over whether to define the atrocities as genocide (a complex issue to be sure, but not using the word genocide puts less pressure on countries like the US to intervene). There are no outsider or non-US voices in Corridors of Power, but this is a scathing critique, shrouding the US in a moral fog. Be warned, the images of despair, mutilation and death are explicit and almost unbearable.
BBC Four is producing another scathing documentary about current American affairs, A Storm Foretold (due for release in cinemas in 2023). Christopher Guldbrandsen spent three years tracking Donald Trump's political adviser Roger Stone. Stone, now 71, is credited with devising the “Stop the Steal” campaign, which culminated in the 2021 storming of the US Capitol after Joe Biden's victory.
“Nuclear-level egotism”: Roger Stone at his Fort Lauderdale home in The Storm Foretold. Photo: BBC/Wingman Media/Abramorama
At one point, Guldbrandsen is caught on security cameras having a heart attack in the gym, apparently brought on by the myriad pressures of making a documentary. The results of his sacrifice are a remarkable watch. Stone, the Republican fixer, comes off as a cigar-smoking Machiavellian (“Saving Western Civilization is a tough job”), and he readily admits to manipulating Trump. You get the sense that Stone sees Trump as just a front for his own ambitions, a show-business front.
Only a nuclear-strength egotism could explain why Stone let the camera in so close. We even see him bleach the roots of his hair, a pretty urban elite move, given his entourage. Trump only appears in other shots, his trademark pumpkin-colored skin accentuated by pale rings around his eyes (fake tanning goggles? Crisp cucumber slices? Right-wing dandies, you never know what's coming). Inevitably, figures like conspiracy theorist Alex Jones pop into view. The white supremacist group Proud Boys behave as if they were Stone's personal bodyguard. In one particularly shocking scene, he jokes about a day when he'll “shoot liberals for Christ.”
I can barely tell what channel or app I'm watching anymore, just a blur of leotards, sweatshirts, and unreachable muscles.
Stone was convicted on seven counts related to Trump's 2016 campaign and Russian interference, and Trump commuted his sentence. But by the time of the Capitol storming, Stone had been pushed aside (he watched it unfold on a TV in his hotel room). Afterwards, furious at being outwitted by Trump, Stone was heard yelling to someone on the phone, presumably about Trump (“I'll kill you and your abortionist motherfucker!”), his mouth moving like an angle grinder, and threatening to support impeachment. Afterwards, Stone calmly told Guldbrandsen, “Of course, if you use that stuff, I'll kill you.” Amazing.
What on earth will we do once the 2024 Paris Olympics are over? I barely know what channel or app I'm watching anymore (BBC, Eurosport, Discovery+). All I see are leotards, trainers and unreachable muscles.
Toby Roberts won gold in the men's bouldering and lead finals last week. Photo: Fabrice Cofrini/AFP/Getty Images
If British teenager Toby “Terminator” Roberts hadn't won gold in a Spider-Boy-style galloping climb, it might have been American champion gymnast Simone Biles who fell off the balance beam (apparently distracted by a spectator trying to silence the other supporters). At the same time that Great Britain's Keeley Hodgkinson won gold in the 800 meters, USA's Noah Lyles ran with pearls and nail polish to win gold in the 100 meters.
Horses and hounds…NBC Olympic correspondent Snoop Dogg attends the dressage event. Photo: Getty Images
And there's Snoop Dogg, the unlikely (and reportedly very highly paid) Olympic correspondent for US television network NBC, motivating the US team and paving the way to Los Angeles 2028. He's been everywhere, doing everything from fake fencing to donning equestrian costumes to swimming with Olympic great Michael Phelps. The Olympics have become like Glastonbury for able-bodied people. Sports aside, TV will go to hell when it's all over.
Over at ITVX, the seven-part multiverse drama “Slip” seemed a bit overwrought in concept. Written by and starring “New Girl's” Zoe Lister-Jones (with Dakota Johnson as executive producer), it tells the story of Mae, a New York gallerist in a broken marriage, whose illicit orgasm transports her to another dimension, where she has another relationship in another bed, another man or woman, another version of herself. Every time Mae orgasms, it happens again. “I think my pussy is a wormhole,” she says.
“Russian Doll(ish) meets Quantum Leap (sort of)”: Zoe Lister-Jones in comedy drama Slip. Photo: ITV
The slips are sarcastic, and watching Mae have interdimensional orgasms can get tedious, but by the fourth episode it's well-acted, vibrant, original, and funny, and it tackles a variety of themes from childhood to the fears of motherhood to scary celebrities to microdosing to Buddhism. The elevator pitch for this one might be “Russian Doll(ish) meets Quantum Leap(sort of), with added nudity and moaning.” Worth a watch.
Star rating (5 stars)
Corridors of Power: Should America Rule the World?
The predicted storm ★★★★★
Paris Olympics 2024 ★★★★
Slipperiness ★★★
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