NZ International Film Fest review: Shadow World

Saudi Arabia's relationship with the UK and US is looked at in Shadow World
Saudi Arabia's relationship with the UK and US is looked at in Shadow World

A terrifying exposé on the corruption, slush funds and human suffering of the global arms trade, Shadow World is overly ambitious with how much it tries to pack in - but is, nonetheless, highly effective.

It's a vast collage of archival footage and interviews, so vast that it ends up saying a lot but telling only a little.

There's a brief early segment on World War I and how it made some companies extraordinarily wealthy, before we see how Ronald Reagan really amped up and tightened the vicious circle of government, weapons companies and foreign policy.

Continuing Reagan's work with an unbelievable vigour of course is the Bush/Cheney duo, with their so-called War on Terror firmly cementing a never-ending income from human conflict.

A figurehead for much of the dodgy dealing is Saudi prince Bandar bin Sultan, a fascinating character prone to rather unfortunate statements, which would be amusing if they weren't about such an awful subject.

The film dances through enormously important and sinister US actions in Chile, Iran and Nicaragua, including contributing to terrorism and the violent replacing of democratically elected leaders with brutal dictators.

Jeremy Scahill gives a little insight into the Obama administration's drone assassination programme, which serves as a three-or-so minute summary of his own documentary Dirty Wars.

But it's not all Americans and Saudis who make up the villains.

In the wake of the damning Chilcot Inquiry, which proved unquestionably Tony Blair's guilt over the Iraq War, there's some grimly fascinating material on his guilt in profiteering from the unethical arms trade and shutting down inquiries into it.

UK company BAE Systems appears to be one of the dirtiest in the game, but we're not allowed to know much about it because Blair won't let us.

In one of the film's strongest segments, a sleazy European arms dealer talks callously about what sort of prostitutes Saudi officials favour and how this secures him tens of millions of dollars in return for an "investment" of $60,000.

I wish more of the film's topics were given as much room to breathe and some of the stylistic flourishes were reined in, in favour of more comprehensive storytelling.

Shadow World is disturbing and intriguing from beginning to end, but I wish it took its time to make stronger points rather than galloping through everything and painting a somewhat vague picture.

Three stars.

This film is playing as part of the 2016 New Zealand International Film Festival.

     Shadow World:: Director: Johan Grimonprez :: Rating: Exempt:: Running Time: 90 minutes

Reviewed by Daniel Rutledge / Newshub.