Zeitgeist, the Movie

Infobox Film
name = Zeitgeist, the Movie


caption =
director =
producer = Peter Joseph [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1166827/ IMDb Profile] ]
writer = Peter Joseph
starring =
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = GMP LLCZeitgeist Movie, DVD Order Page, (February 5, 2008) " [http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/dvdorder.htm Zeitgeist The Movie - DVD Order page] ".]
released = 2007
runtime = 122 min
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://zeitgeistmovie.com/
amg_id =
imdb_id = 1166827

"Zeitgeist, the Movie" is a 2007 documentary film, produced by Peter Joseph about the Jesus myth hypothesis, the attacks of 9/11, and the Federal Reserve Bank as well as a number of conspiracy theories related to those three main topics.Shaw, Charles. (October 21, 2007) Scoop Independent News. " [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0710/S00303.htm Mythology and Iconoclasm of Zeitgeist The Movie; The Big Lie: Parsing the Mythology and Iconoclasm of Zeitgeist: The Movie.] "] It was released free online via Google Video in June 2007. [ [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5547481422995115331&hl=en Google Video] "Zeitgeist, The Movie" (Official Release - Full Film)] A remastered version was presented as a global premiere on November 10, 2007 at the 4th Annual Artivist Film Festival & Artivist Awards. [News Blaze (November 10, 2007) " [http://newsblaze.com/story/20071031143153tsop.np/newsblaze/NEWSWIRE/NewsBlaze-Wire.html 4th Annual Artivist Film Festival & Artivist Awards "Merging Art & Activism: Saturday Night Film "Zeitgeist"] "] The film has attracted significant public interest.Irish Times (August 25, 2007) " [http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/weekend/2007/0825/1187332519087.html Zeitgeist: the nonsense] " Section: Weekend; page 16.]

History of the film

Zeitgeist was first released on June 26, 2007 and topped the Google video charts most viewed videos. [ [http://video.google.com/videorankings?type=viewed&range=m2008-02-01&cr=* Google video] ] The film was translated into several languages and is distributed officially via Google Video and BitTorrent. Zeitgeist won the top award of Best Feature Documentary/Artivist Spirit at the 4th Annual Artivist Awards in 2007 in Hollywood, CA. [ [http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=788818 4th Annual Artivist Film Festival and Artivist Awards Announce the Winning Films of This Year's Festival ] ]

A sequel has since been released. premiered at the 5th Annual Artivist Film Festival on October 2, 2008, at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, California. Like the original film, was released online -- free of charge -- on October 3, 2008. [ [http://zeitgeistmovie.com/statement.htm Zeitgeist - The Movie - Statement] ]

Film content

The film starts with a speech by Chögyam Trungpa about spirituality, followed by a series of musically synchronized clips of war and explosions culminating with one of the towers of World Trade Center collapsing during 9/11. Then there follows a sequence of clips showing the horrors of war. There is a short clip that shows a hand writing "1 + 1 = 2", but is brushed away by another hand before the first finishes, and is replaced by a bible and an American flag. After a few more war clips, the film then quotes Jordan Maxwell's "Inner World of the Occult", criticizing religious institutions, governments, and the banking cartels who "have misled [the people] away from the true and divine presence in the universe." This portion ends with more images accompanied by audio of a portion of a George Carlin monologue on religion.

Part I

The film's first section, called "The Greatest Story Ever Told", denounces the originality of many world religions, arguing they are mainly derived from astrological myths and traditions established long before them. In furtherance of the Jesus myth hypothesis, this part argues that the historical Jesus is a literary and astrological hybrid, nurtured politically in the interest of control.

Horus, the Egyptian Sun God, is introduced as having a number of attributes similar to many other religious deities which came after him, including but not limited to Attis, Krishna, Dionysus, Mithra and Jesus Christ; these attributes including virgin birth on December 25th, 12 disciples, burial for 3 days and resurrection and performing of miracles."Official Zeitgeist Website" " [http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/transcript.htm] "]

The film offers that the explanation for these common attributes is astrology, for example: death, burial for 3 days and resurrection is cited as being based on the winter solstice, where the Sun's peak reaches its lowest point in the sky, resides there perceivably for 3 days, and starts to move north, symbolizing the rebirth of the all-powerful creator. Another Christian-astrological similarity highlighted is the way the three stars in Orion's belt (called the "Three Kings") align with Sirius on December 25th, the brightest star in the sky, and point to the Sun's rise on the horizon. This is equated to the Nativity of Jesus, where three kings follow the star in the east to locate the birth of Jesus. Jesus travels with twelve disciples much like the sun and twelve constellations of the zodiac.

Christianity is then said to be a Gnostic myth, historized by the Roman Empire for social control of Europe through doctrines established at the First Council of Nicea. The Dark Ages, the Inquisitions and the Crusades are given as events which maintained Europe's submission to The Vatican through Christianity.

The following quote is said in conclusion:

Part II

The second part of the documentary, entitled "All the World's a Stage", claims 9/11 was engineered to generate mass fear, initiate and justify the War on Terror, remove civil liberties from the general public, and for economic gain. The claims are followed by the immediate on-screen sourcing of clips from notable and credible television news, and clippings from notable and credible newspapers and magazines (shown on screen) to advance the claims that the United States government was warned about the impending September 11, 2001 attacks, that the planes were allowed to reach their targets, and that the World Trade Center buildings underwent a controlled demolition; basically that the events of Sept 11th 2001 were either orchestrated by, or allowed to happen by, a criminal element in the United States government. The film also gives a tour of allegedly "notable and credible media" to support the claims that six of the named hijackers are still alive, that Hani Hanjour could not have flown Flight 77 into the Pentagon, that no substantial plane wreckage was found at any of the three crash sites, that the Bush Administration covered up the truth in the 9/11 Commission Report, and that the mainstream media has failed to ask important questions about the official account.

Part III

] The third part is called "Don't Mind the Men Behind the Curtain", a reference to the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.The four main wars of the United States' 20th century are argued by the film to have been started or engaged in purely to further the economic strength of a group of men. Events attempted to be exposed as fraudulent or staged are the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, the Attack on Pearl Harbor, and the Gulf of Tonkin Incident; all occurrences which carried the U.S into the First World War, Second World War and Vietnam War respectively.

According to the film, the U.S. was forced by the Federal Reserve Bank to become embroiled in these wars not to win but to sustain conflict, as it forces its government to borrow more money from the bank, with interest attached, thereby increasing the nation's debt and the profits of those who own The Fed. The film gives a history of the Reserve, claiming it engineered the Great Depression to steal wealth from the American population and was responsible for the attempts to assassinate Louis McFadden, a congressman who attempted to impeach the Reserve.

This section also explores the possibility that there is a clandestine movement, promoted by the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, to usurp the American constitution and US dollar, by merging the United States, Canada and Mexico into a North American Union that uses a single currency, the Amero, without the ratification of Congress. This currency union would create a super-state similar to the European Union, which together with the African Union and the proposed Asian Union would gradually be merged into a One World government. The movie concludes that under such a government, every human could be implanted with a RFID microchip which would be used to monitor individuals and suppress dissent. The movie ends, however, on an optimistic note, expressing confidence in the possibility of overthrowing oppressive forces and the ultimate triumph of revolution through enlightenment.

Zeitgeist: Addendum

The fourth part, "the Addendum", premiered at the 5th Annual Artivist Film Festival in Los Angeles, California on October 2, 2008. It addresses "the true source of the instability in our society, while offering the only fundamental, long term solution." [ [http://www.artivists.org/ Artivist] October Filmfestival Agenda]

It was released online for the Internet community October 3rd., 2008, a day after the premiere at the Artivist Filmfestival.

The Zeitgeist Addendum summarizes into these actions for Social Transformation

#Expose The Fed Cartel (Boycott Citibank, JPMorgan Chase & Bank of America)
#Boycott The News Networks (Use and Protect the Internet)
#Boycott The Military
#Boycott The Energy Companies (Get off the grid & make your home & car self-sustainable)
#Create Critical Mass (http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com)

The Venus Project

The Venus Project by Jacque Fresco is promoted in the film as a sustainable solution for mankind on earth.

Criticism

A feature article in "The Stranger" has stated the film is based solely on anecdotal evidence, [Constant, Paul. (September 5, 2007) The Stranger " [http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=309650 Beauty Is Truth.] " Section: Features.] while others have criticized it for using unidentified, undated, and unsourced video news clips, voice-overs, quotes, and book citations without page numbers. [Frauenfelder, Mark. (August 6, 2007) Boing Boing " [http://www.boingboing.net/2007/08/06/jay-kinney-reviews-z.html Jay Kinney reviews Zeitgeist, the Movie.] "] [Tossell, Ivor. (August 20, 2007) The Globe and Mail " [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FRTGAM.20070816.wweb17%2FBNStory%2FTechnology&ord=5691605&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true Rejecting conspiracy thinking keeps it alive and well] "] A piece in the "Irish Times" called it "unhinged" and accused it of offering nothing but "surreal perversions of genuine issues and debates."Irish Times (August 25, 2007) " [http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/weekend/2007/0825/1187332519087.html Zeitgeist: the nonsense] " Section: Weekend; page 16.]

See also

* 9/11 conspiracy theories
*
* Conspiracy theory
* False flag
* Fractional reserve banking
* Jesus Christ in comparative mythology
* List of documentaries
* The God Who Wasn't There
*

References

External links

* [http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/ Zeitgeistmovie.com Official website]
*
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-594683847743189197 Zeitgeist, The Movie - Remastered/Final Edition] on Google Video (Flash Video)
* [http://www.alwaysbeready.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=124&Itemid=107 A critical analysis and response to the movie from a Christian perspective]
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7065205277695921912 Zeitgeist: Addendum - Google Video Released on October 3, 2008]
* [http://dotsub.com/view/4cff20d5-f55b-4009-bb74-d04f8e907671 Zeitgeist: Addendum - unofficial English subtitles project]
* [http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/ The Zeitgeist Movement]