The Shock Doctrine

2009

1h 25m

Documentary

List

58%

12 Reviews

Tomatometer

63%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

Filmmakers Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross use lectures by Naomi Klein, newsreel footage and analysis to explain the connection between politics and economics.

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Audience Member

I really like Klein's take on neoliberalism and disaster capitalism, and this documentary is a good way to reach people who don't like reading - especially dense books on social theory. It synthesizes well the most important parts of her ideas, making them easily comprehensible to the general public.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

Staffan H

This isn't a documentary. It has no direction, makes it argument by including a lot of stuff that is beside the point and doesn't seem to contain any original material. It's mostly archival footage and, as someone else already stated, bits of Naomi Klein's lectures. The whole thing is litterally riddeled with irrelevant material that is probably included purely for it's shock value. Perhaps that's the actual schock therapy the movie refers to. I agree with much what is said but there's no hard evidence of anything. It's more a collection of cirumstances, of which many are irrelevant, with exciting narration. Even though Naomi's book is on the to-be-read list, this "documentary" is a very odd experience.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/23/21

Full Review

Audience Member

It's always a shame when a documentary with such interesting and worthy subject matter is handled with such a lack of editorial skill. I would certainly recommend it due to the content but it's not great cinema.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A compelling premise with some great archival footage of some really horrific historical events. The film gives a strong argument against Friedman's free market policies and there are some powerful moments where the facts speak for themselves.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

In this documentary Naomi Klein exposes how extreme free-market policies & corporations have ripped off several nations across the globe using disaster capitalism. The film is thought provoking. I am very interested in a lot of Klein's views. I was also impressed with the fact that she exposes the repressive dictatorship that essentially replaced the democratically elected leader Allende in Chile in 1973. I am well read on the subject & appreciated her candor on it. The CIA & Corporate America were behind the coup. Klein exposes the sad fact in her documentaries that almost everything in life comes down to money.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Very didactic, it relies too heavily on bad news report-style narration over archival footage, and it rushes through the facts so quickly and glibly that it makes the conclusions it comes to about causation sound tenuous and hysterical when they are most likely in actual fact very well-researched and backed up with evidence. I would also liked to have seen more of an emphasis on earlier history, as that's especially rushed through. It's not a very good film, but there are powerful moments when the facts speak for themselves.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

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Michael Winterbottom

Director

Mat Whitecross

Director

Kieran O'Brien

Narrator

Michael Winterbottom

Screenwriter

Andrew Eaton

Producer

Alex Cooke

Producer

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Kirk Honeycutt

Hollywood Reporter

This movie, clearly assembled in haste, throws surprisingly poor archival footage into the mix with a Klein lecture, scant original interviews and a narration from on high that will brook no dissent.

Jan 25, 2010

Full Review

Jason Bailey

DVDTalk.com

A skillful, illuminating cinematic position paper, a well-made documentary that slams more information and anger into 82 minutes than most networks convey in a full 24-hour news cycle.

Jan 1, 2009

Full Review

Kaleem Aftab

The National (UAE)

It's really the bluffer's guide to Klein, useful for those looking for an introduction to the concepts but not much else.

Nov 1, 2018

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

In a lucid way clears up how America is now in the midst of a severe financial crisis through questionable free market policies.

Rated: B

Sep 24, 2011

Full Review

Christopher Campbell

Cinematical

The worst that comes out of the documentary's final moments is the sense that Winterbottom and Whitecross ultimately don't know what their film is supposed to be about.

Rated: 2/5

Jan 31, 2010

Full Review

James Wegg

JWR

Pure capitalism unmasked

Rated: 5/5

Jan 30, 2010

Full Review

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Synopsis

Filmmakers Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross use lectures by Naomi Klein, newsreel footage and analysis to explain the connection between politics and economics.

Director: Michael Winterbottom, Mat Whitecross
Producer: Alan Hayling, Hamish Mykura
Screenwriter: Michael Winterbottom
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 31, 2017
Runtime: 1h 25m

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