Shadow World

2016

Documentary

2
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 71% · 4 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 71%
IMDb Rating 7.5/10 10 834 834

saudi arabia palestinian-israeli conflict british politics political corruption usa politics arms industry

Plot summary

A detailed investigation into the political and economic interests that, since the beginning of the 20th century, have pulled the strings of the arms trade, hidden in the shadows, feeding the shameful corruption of politicians and government officials and promoting a state of permanent war throughout the world, while they cynically asked for a lasting and universal peace.

Director

Johan Grimonprez Photo
Johan Grimonprez

Top cast

720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
864.09 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
us  
29.97 fps
1 hr 33 min
Seeds 6
1.57 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
us  
29.97 fps
1 hr 33 min
Seeds 9

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by SomeBlueDevil 10 / 10

A Must Watch

I stumbled upon this by mere coincidence during channel surfing PBS Thanks-Giving morning.Being politically aware, I already knew most of what this production entails. However, it didn't take away from the sick feeling I felt in the pit of my stomach - the opposite. It confirmed everything and brought it home in full color, no filters. Things you won't see on American news outlets. They'd rather report on The Kardashians and American Idol than show you what's going on in the world. It's part of the dumbing down and conditioning of the American populace.Since this goes back in time and ends in today's world, it is sure to offend people on both sides of the political spectrum. Which is why you see 1 star reviews criticizing this production.I'm beyond that, having left "my" party last year. To me, it's two sides of the same coin which is another truth you get out of watching this.It was available for free streaming online on the PBS website, until... today. Wow. I wonder why it was taken down... Not.Anyway, watch it. And then be honest with yourself.
Reviewed by Red-Barracuda 7 / 10

Complex and informative doc about the arms trade

Shadow World is an eye-opening look at the international arms trade. It makes for pretty worrying viewing and suggests that this trade is not only endemically corrupt but also works alongside governments to perpetuate warfare. This film casts a light on some of the sordid goings-on behind the scenes and particularly highlights the actions of certain high profile individuals and arms companies. One of the central scandals that underpin the narrative is the illegal dealings that went on between the Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan and British arms company BAE Systems, the latter controlled a slush fund which was used to pay off high ranking officials around the world as well as Bandar himself who even received a huge private jet as a gift. Others such as Mark Thatcher are alleged to have received 12 million pounds for their work in enabling deals. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair comes off looking very poorly indeed, and seems to be a man engulfed in corruption, blocking investigations into corruption in the arms trade, taking huge sums from arms related companies as a representative in his post Prime Minister capacity, as well as most damningly lying to Parliament and the public in order to allow the country to enter the Iraq War, the repercussions of which we endure to this day; including the rise of ISIS as a direct reaction to this.The film looks at how much of the Islamic extremist groups we have today were actively enabled by foreign policy that sometimes backed them, such as the Afghan mujahedeen receiving military assistance from the USA when they fought the USSR in the 80's, this ultimately led to al Qaeda and the Taliban of course. Moreover, the film looks at the way that the arms trade is inextricably linked to governments to the point that they are part of the establishment who dictate what goes down. The money involved is so massive that what they say goes and politicians often meekly obey. This has led to a scenario where we have self-fuelling endless wars in which supply will never lose sight of demand. A perfect example of this is the 'war on terror', which as Clare Short describes here is a ludicrous concept when you think of it. It's a war against what exactly? It is so vague to be meaningless but can be used to encompass a continual conflict that will never effectively end. How do you ultimately declare victory in a war against 'terror'? The truth is that you can't and so the war goes on. Overall, this is chilling stuff and does not bode well for the future.
Reviewed by dapadayachee 10 / 10

It details the close links between giant arms manufacturers and governments.

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