60 documentaries in, prolific journalist and filmmaker, John Pilger, is still pulling back the curtain on vital issues around the world. This time, his focus is on what he believes to be the fast-approaching war between the United States and China.
The Coming War on China isn’t trying to innovate in terms of filmmaking. This is somewhat of a pure current affairs documentary. Narration, archival and on-location footage, as well as interviews form the entire film. The flashiness that you’ll find in other documentaries of its kind is absent, and it works in favour Pilger’s goal. His narration is always pertinent, and at times rather entertaining. There are even some humourous one-liners that I won’t spoil. All the footage he uses is engaging enough to warrant this being a film and not a long-form podcast. However, it’s the interviews that shine here. Businesspeople, authors, activists, and government representatives all sit down to present their perspectives. The most revealing of these interviews were those from Chinese interviewees. Pilger makes it very clear that the Chinese perspective is vital to understanding the issues at hand. Contrastingly, the American perspective was not at all surprising. However, Pilger always avoided ‘gotcha’ questions, allowing guests to communicate their positions clearly, even if that meant allowing them to dig their own grace.
There’s a distinctly anti-American slant throughout the entire documentary and Pilger goes to great lengths to justify this. He doesn’t make any claims or implications without presenting his reasoning, nor does he ever lie. However, there’s a distinct feeling that one side is getting off significantly easier than the other. Aside from a few light criticisms of the second-largest (or largest depending on who you talk to) superpower in the world, China ends up looking like a helpless victim of American aggression. To some extent, this is true, but there’s a clear lack of balance. Ultimately, this doesn’t take away too much from the film. After all, Pilger’s aim for this film was to “break a silence”, not to comprehensively recount the war-filled history of two nations.
The only major flaw in the film is the allocation of time. One of the longest segments is essentially a case-study, dedicated to framing the United States as an imperialist superpower, which commits atrocities against its ‘subjects’. The length of this exposé on the Marshall Islands seems excessive, and the point was well-taken 20 minutes before he wrapped up the segment. There are other smaller cases of time-wasting where Pilger could’ve dedicated more time to directly strengthening the hypothesis.
Overall, whatever flaws the film may have or whatever disagreements the viewer might have with Pilger, this is an undeniably important documentary. His fellow journalists would do well to follow his lead, lest they miss out on what may be the biggest story of the century.
