The Turner Film Diaries

What initially appears to be a legitimate indictment of American cultural decadence turns out to be the filming of an ultra-rightwing manifesto. In 1978, William Pierce wrote under the pseudonym Andrew MacDonald. It wasa novel that would later inspire others to commit violent acts, including Timothy McVeigh, who killed 168 people in the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. The book is a fictitious retrospective on a "successfully" completed global ethnic cleansing. This documentary adopts a similar perspective. A demonic voice-over reads passages from the book, while abstract black-and-white images support the chaotic and hateful worldview. The documentary moves on to suggest that a society of mass consumption, obesity, dislocation and addiction can be a breeding ground for this outlook. The lack of logic in the reasoning is masterfully adopted in the editing. Director James T. Hong - specialized in polemical experimental films such as - has made yet another resolutely provocative piece. The fact that this way of thinking - destruction as salvation - is music to the ears of some people is as fascinating as it is abhorrent.