Review – The World Without US

Even after sitting through the whole thing, I'm still not quite sure what to make of this movie. The premise is simple enough: what would happen if the United States withdrew its troops from its bases in other countries and stopped committing forces to solving problems around the world? Bad stuff, apparently. But it was hard to get a handle on exactly what agenda the picture was advancing. The Video-Toaster-circa-1994 aesthetics suggested neo-con Christian apocalyptic screed, but that turned out not to be the case. The analysis of our inaction in the Balkans suggested we should be more interventionist, but then the part about Iraq implied that we spend a ton of money to provide economic advantages for European and Chinese companies. The parts about South Korea and Taiwan were even stranger, advocating our continued presence and support of strong economies capable of their own defense. As if we wouldn’t be capable of massive retaliation against Chinese aggression even without a permanent U.S. presence in the region. I’m not saying ambiguity is a bad thing. I’m just saying it was a surprise coming from a production that looks like this. Mildly amusing