Internationally Speaking (2005) Poster

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10/10
Internationally Speaking is a wake-up call to Americans who refuse to see America from a global perspective.
woodmist24 September 2005
Internationally Speaking (IS) is a historically significant and wonderfully presented wake-up call to Americans who refuse to see America from a global perspective.

Christine Rose dares to tread where America's arrogant angels will not. "IS" is an unspun character witness of prior and, in particular, this Bush administration's foreign policy. Rose asks simple questions of ordinary citizens around the planet. She asks regular folks, what do you think of America? These folks, in return, offer profound commentary worthy of consideration by ALL Americans.

Rose's "One Earth" introductory theme sets, perfectly, the context of "IS." The "One Earth" musical introduction to her documentary will draw you into a beautiful world many seldom enter. The music and lyrics warm one's heart as the mind's eye is opened or opened, perhaps, just a bit wider.

What Rose does not do is as important as what she does do with this documentary. Rose does not ask politicians, our own or others', what they think about America. Rose does ask various domestic and foreign citizens and activists what they think about America. Rose reminds us that here, in America, the government is "We the People," at least in theory and by Constitutional decree.

In no sense does Rose give way to capricious "political correctness."

Rose allows respondents a refreshingly total freedom to respond. No lead-in or trap door questions are presented.

IS presents a resultant "drumbeat" of prevailing perspectives on the current state of America's foreign policy. Between beats, Rose offers various historians and activists a bit of air time they are ill-afforded in today's mainstream media.

Internationally Speaking gives voice, even to a few of America's own loud but unheard voices; voices effectively quelled by our mainstream media. For example, do you know who James Zelton and Medea Benjamin are? Do you know their stories? I didn't think so.

How the world views America may or may not surprise you, but... what will surprise you is how incredibly close the world watches and, subsequently, characterizes America.

One's rose-colored perception of one's own moral character is not necessarily how others view that same one's moral character. Which view, really, is more important? More universally accurate?

So it goes with nations.

Christine Rose's "Internationally Speaking" takes the rose out of the rose-colored glasses we all tend to wear.
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10/10
My Pick For Best Documentary 2005
terrible-329 September 2005
A wonderful film that clearly and often times emotionally outlines the disturbing shift in the international view of US credibility and respectability. The interviews with Medea Benjamin, Noam Chomsky, James Zetlien, and Michael Ratner juxtaposed with the comments from around the world of average individuals changing perceptions of the US offers viewers a better understanding of the growing so-called 'anti-Americanism'. The Medea Benjamin interviews alone make this film a must-see for any person today of conscious or compassion. The American habit of stereotyping people of other nations as somehow inferior is shown for what it is in the face of the thoughts and words, the hopes and dreams of people of all nations. This is a great follow-up to Christine Rose's first film Liberty Bound.
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10/10
A voice of reason & respect
vimaleshvarananda19 June 2007
Thanks to the makers for giving some of the planets majority a voice. Truly exciting in a desert like world though the copies are very hard to come by and of lower quality. Now what does that say about the media's "responsibility" as a pillar of justice and democracy? Those few whose voices are being heard will become a vast surge as love for humanity sweeps away the threadbare relics of a dying age. As one who is trying to make a difference by promoting our great friend the neem tree (in Peru & wherever I go), I know that the surge is rising by the actions, however small, of so many people. We live in interesting times-make the most of them... See you all.
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