Review – Unconstitutional

There must be something more profound than this to say about the USA Patriot Act. A good-sized chunk of the first half of the production is devoted to how unfairly immigrants are being treated in the wake of Sept. 11. Like nothing like this ever happened before the Patriot Act was passed (think “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos” for a minute here). Still, valid points. Trouble is, Americans have a long-standing track record of not caring about anyone who can be distinguished from themselves, particularly when it comes to civil rights and civil liberties. The sneak warrants and secret monitoring of bookstores and libraries hit a little closer to home. But the key point in my opinion – present in the tape but scarcely emphasized – is that only the most mentally-differently-abled terrorist would fall afoul of the easily-avoided restrictions of the Act (for example, pay cash for a book and the bookstore has no record of who bought it). Clearly, then, the point behind all these new powers is something else. COINTELPRO, anyone? And we’re not just talking the neo-hippie protestors shown cruelly victimized in the movie. Scratch the surface just a little deeper, and a genuinely interesting production might have emerged. As it is, though, it’s Michael Moore without Michael Moore. A step in the right direction, but a long way from the whole distance. Mildly amusing