John Pilger’s film, the War on Democracy, is a very important film ñ it is one that can change hearts and minds. Indeed, if enough people see it, it might even change the world.

At times shocking, at times incredibly moving, the War on Democracy challenges the current world view in an era when many questionable actions are taken in the name of democracy.

John Pilger, who is an award-winning journalist, has made 55 television documentaries in many different countries over the years, from Vietnam to Nicaragua.

His first feature film is mainly shot in South America and contends that true popular democracy is now more likely to be found among the poorest of Latin America, whose grassroots movements are often ignored in the west.

At the start of the film we see part of the US President’s second inauguration speech. He used the words democracy’ and liberty’ 21 times in 23 minutes, as he pledged to bring democracy to the world’. ‘The speech,’ says John, ‘was significant because it finally emptied noble concepts like democracy’ of their true meaning ñ government, for, by and of the people.’

As the film goes on we see the world, not through the eyes of the powerful, but through the hopes and dreams and extraordinary actions of ordinary people.

Mavis Mendez, aged 95, who is reading and writing for the first time, as a result of a Venezuela’s massive literacy programme, delightedly, tells us: ‘It’s never too late to better yourself.’

In contrast, we are treated to some surreal contributions, from people such as a former CIA agent, who talks about ‘Ö a little harmless bombing’, when defending some of America’s previous attempts at bringing democracy’.

President Hugo Chavez has attracted the attentions of the CIA himself and survived an American-backed coup. He tells John Pilger how the supermarkets in Venezuela are funded by the country’s oil and have the people’s rights printed on the back of their packaging.

Frequently branded a dictator by the West, the Venezuelan President says: ‘We are making democracy a reality. To live with dignity, that is the objective.’

Few films have been as timely as The War on Democracy. Never before have people in the West shown such disenchantment with the democracy they vote for and the version they get. And never before has most of humanity registered such alarm at the ambitions of a great power. Although it is set mostly in Latin America, the film is a metaphor for all the world. The message is that rampant power is far from invincible and that people power is enduring.

The War on Democracy will be shown

on ITV later in the year. To see the trailer

Contact: www.johnpilger.com

John Pilger. Photo: © www.lionsgatefilms.co.uk