Ian Totten's Blog - Posts Tagged "documentary"
My review for 'The Minds of Men'
It’s that time again peeps and freaks, where I review something else I’ve watched. Grab your hairnet, pull up those pants and hold on. This time I’m going to give you a review for a documentary called ‘The Minds of Men’ by filmmakers Melissa and Aaron Dykes.
Rating: N/A
Release: July 16, 2018
Length: 3+ hours
Where to begin? There’s so much information contained in this film, which centers on the CIA’s Project MKUltra, that it’s hard to decide.... While I can’t even begin to cover an 8th of what this film entails, I’ll try giving you a broad overview.
MKUltra was a secret CIA project focussed on mind control and interrogation that ran (runs?) from the early 1950s onward. While the official story is that it ended upon discovery in 1971, the filmmakers give compelling evidence that it was still underway at the time of the Church Committee hearings in 1976 (when I assume it was discovered that the head of the CIA had all the documentation related to the project destroyed in 1973. Yeah, that’s an open, honest, for the people government for you). What’s more interesting (and frightening, at least to me), is the implication that the techniques the Doctors developed were meant to be used on civilian populations to break and turn them into mindless drones (yes, turn away from this drivel, watch those celebrities shake their asses and bitch about not having enough money). Really heady stuff, that I more than believe has and continues to be used against us.
I found the overall film enjoyable and informative, though it did at times drag (cigarette breaks abounded during the viewing, because fuck cancer, 3 hours without a smoke and someone is going to die). This could be blamed on the filmmakers, but the reality is that it has more to do with the subject matter, which required them to go in-depth more than is needed for most other subjects in order for the viewer to understand things fully. At times (Part 2 mostly), I found it difficult to follow. This was due to a combination of the subject and the presentation (I told you it was in-depth, I’m talking Bill Beutel Eyewitness News levels of investigative journalism here), but the compelling nature of the narrative was such that I couldn’t turn it off. Did it take away from the film any? Only slightly (Think in levels of Yoda dying versus Jar Jar being on screen. This was Yoda). A few puffs on a smoke and I was back into it again, lost in the sinister nature of the men being presented to me (seriously, if you burn holes in a monkeys brain in the name of science, you’re a dick who should be shot).
While not as ‘shocking’ as other documentaries like ‘Paradise Lost,’ which tells the falsified story of the West Memphis Three and uses the horror of what was done along with crime scene footage to pull the viewer into the deception, ‘Minds of Men’ instead relies on archival footage and indisputable evidence to snag you. The eeriness of the subject matter (mind control and the breaking of human will), with it’s hint of eugenics and possible world domination, along with the female voiceovers and musical score melded nicely to produce a piece that was overall captivating and informative.
Would I recommend it? Put the kids to bed (early) turn off the phone, and don’t make any plans for the night. You should really watch this one. At best it will open your mind to how diabolical governments can be. At worst you’ll get some ideas for your next novel. Four and 1/4 stars.
You can get your copy here: https://www.themindsofmen.net/
Rating: N/A
Release: July 16, 2018
Length: 3+ hours
Where to begin? There’s so much information contained in this film, which centers on the CIA’s Project MKUltra, that it’s hard to decide.... While I can’t even begin to cover an 8th of what this film entails, I’ll try giving you a broad overview.
MKUltra was a secret CIA project focussed on mind control and interrogation that ran (runs?) from the early 1950s onward. While the official story is that it ended upon discovery in 1971, the filmmakers give compelling evidence that it was still underway at the time of the Church Committee hearings in 1976 (when I assume it was discovered that the head of the CIA had all the documentation related to the project destroyed in 1973. Yeah, that’s an open, honest, for the people government for you). What’s more interesting (and frightening, at least to me), is the implication that the techniques the Doctors developed were meant to be used on civilian populations to break and turn them into mindless drones (yes, turn away from this drivel, watch those celebrities shake their asses and bitch about not having enough money). Really heady stuff, that I more than believe has and continues to be used against us.
I found the overall film enjoyable and informative, though it did at times drag (cigarette breaks abounded during the viewing, because fuck cancer, 3 hours without a smoke and someone is going to die). This could be blamed on the filmmakers, but the reality is that it has more to do with the subject matter, which required them to go in-depth more than is needed for most other subjects in order for the viewer to understand things fully. At times (Part 2 mostly), I found it difficult to follow. This was due to a combination of the subject and the presentation (I told you it was in-depth, I’m talking Bill Beutel Eyewitness News levels of investigative journalism here), but the compelling nature of the narrative was such that I couldn’t turn it off. Did it take away from the film any? Only slightly (Think in levels of Yoda dying versus Jar Jar being on screen. This was Yoda). A few puffs on a smoke and I was back into it again, lost in the sinister nature of the men being presented to me (seriously, if you burn holes in a monkeys brain in the name of science, you’re a dick who should be shot).
While not as ‘shocking’ as other documentaries like ‘Paradise Lost,’ which tells the falsified story of the West Memphis Three and uses the horror of what was done along with crime scene footage to pull the viewer into the deception, ‘Minds of Men’ instead relies on archival footage and indisputable evidence to snag you. The eeriness of the subject matter (mind control and the breaking of human will), with it’s hint of eugenics and possible world domination, along with the female voiceovers and musical score melded nicely to produce a piece that was overall captivating and informative.
Would I recommend it? Put the kids to bed (early) turn off the phone, and don’t make any plans for the night. You should really watch this one. At best it will open your mind to how diabolical governments can be. At worst you’ll get some ideas for your next novel. Four and 1/4 stars.
You can get your copy here: https://www.themindsofmen.net/
