Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

tomgillespie2002 Having read part of his Manufacturing Consent (co-written with Edward S. Herman) for one essay or another at University, I was familiar with the work and reputation of Noam Chomsky. He is perhaps most famous for his work in linguistics, but Chomsky's brain is far too powerful to be consigned to one area, and he writes and talks about philosophy, science, politics, logistics, and history frequently, and is respected in all fields. At the beginning of this low-budget and somewhat narrowly focused documentary of the man, he is introduced into a lecture hall before giving a talk to a crowd of adoring students as a man who has created works of literature on par with the likes of William Shakespeare and the Bible. Rebel Without a Pause ultimately shows Chomsky as a rock star, depending on his wife to arrange his 'tours', and shows that at the age of 75 (back in 2003), his attraction has not wavered.The film is little more than clips from 3 or 4 of his lectures and discussions, that cover a range of topics such as the Iraq War, 9/11 and mass control. He talks openly, tackling controversial topics with ease and saying things that most people would not. You could call him left- wing, even Marxist, but he is undoubtedly an anarchic figure. Yet his open and laid-back approach, as well as his willingness and his natural eagerness to discuss topics with others, make him effortlessly watchable, and help save this relatively uninspired documentary from being a total failure. Chomsky states in one of his lectures that he talks boring and plainly, which is precisely what this documentary does. It is badly filmed, badly edited, and often the audio becomes impossible to hear. There is also no narrative, and jumps from subject to subject with a title card to help you along. It's certainly a must-see to those new to Chomsky, as he is an extremely compelling figure, but no doubt a better and more in-depth film about the man will come along in the near future.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

igm A documentarist, like any filmmaker, must convey a compelling story. Will Pascoe fails utterly in this effort, cobbling together uninspired snippets of Chomsky's wisdom from a visit to McMaster University in Hamilton. The footage is shot amateurishly and in video. Pascoe's only effort at cohering the fragments into a whole is by periodically throwing a vague title on the screen: "9-11," "Activism," "Truth."Lame.Compare this with documentaries like "The Corporation" or "The Fog of War" which create a narrative drawing material from interviews, stock footage, and filmed footage. In the end each delivers a poignant and insightful message deftly and intelligently.The only saving graces of the film are Chomsky's nonchalantly delivered upendings of historical dogma, and the fact that the running time is only 74 minutes.One of the more interesting passages was Chomsky's recounting of his experience with National Public Radio. He describes the conservative media as more accommodating to dissenting views, while NPR's liberal dogma strait-jackets its interviewees and dramatically limits its permitted messages. Yet another media outlet to be skeptical of.This documentary is for Noam Chomsky completists only.

gavin6942 I have been a reader of Chomsky for years and own several of his books. I also own a couple of his CDs and have other audio on my computer. My point: Chomsky is by no means a stranger to me.This familiarity made the video bittersweet. The bitter part was that the vast majority of the information was not new to me and I have heard Chomsky say these things in other places before. So as a learning tool, it was more refresher than anything shocking or ground-breaking.But this sin't to say it was without value. All the stuff he should have been talking about in 2003, he was. He speaks of Saddam Hussein who was our ally, of media controlled by corporations, by the control of the people being by fear (which is, although he never says it, Machiavellian policy).But this video was also sad, because it showed how truly old and frail Chomsky has become. Still energetic, but he seems to be demanding more interesting sweaters. And at one point it looks like he's addressing the Sun Room of a nursing home (he's not). He is so old, in fact, his wife has grown to look just like him - I would have assumed she was his sister. But the sad reality for me was that someday not long in the future, this man - the most intelligent man alive - will be dead.

angelowrie56 Documentaries are the in thing these days it seems and I rented this film just based on the fact I wanted to hear what Noam Chomsky was up to these days given events of the last couple of years and the film did not disappoint. Chomsky's ability to look at a subject like the war in Iraq and explore the various causes and reasons our brave troops are over there is quite powerful. The film actually made me question a lot of what I hear and see on TV. I had no idea how devestating the UN Sanctions were on the actual people of Iraq, while the government was more or less unaffected because of the corruption there. I had no idea that National Public Radio was forced by Washington to cancel Chomsky's appearance on the radio for fear of what he might say and how controversial it would be. Chomsky tells this story in an amusing and insightful way which is what I really appreciated from this film. "Rebel Without A Pause" shows Chomsky as the bright, well-read intellectual we all know him to be, but it also gives us a sense of the charm, wit, and sarcasm that he holds back from the public (I guess because he's always talking about horrible things like war and poverty and globalization). If you want an interesting look "behind the man" this film will give it to you but will also give you tons of Chomsky post-911 so you can read his books or watch this film and get a good synthesis of the last few books he has written. The DVD extras are interesting as well.