First: I have a political bias. I am a conservative Republican who SUPPORTS "W", his war on terror and the war in Iraq. Therefore, I agree with the central premise of this film - That Militant Islamism is today's greatest threat to world stability and peace and that this is a time for us to be like Churchill rather than Ghandi. I also agree that politically correct peaceniks don't get it and undermine the war on terror so they can gain political advantage in order to enact things like socialized health-care. So I was disappointed with this blatant piece of propaganda. Please note that it is possible to make a good film which is blatant propaganda, even if it differs from one's political opinion. Unfortunately, Obsession is not one of these good pieces of propaganda. There are three problems with this film: too preachy, too sloppy and too obviously and unpersuasively propagandistic. The most impressive parts of this film are the clips of news footage from middle eastern television of hate-filled religious and political rallies and interviews with children who have been indoctrinated with islamist hate. Unfortunately, the clips are repeatedly interrupted with mostly unnecessary, preachy, "expert" commentary. This leaves a probably mistaken impression that the clips were being edited and taken out of context in order to promote the politics of the filmmaker. Except for the part of the film describing the "Matzo-Movie", the sources of the footage were not adequately described. The film was sloppy, i.e. poorly organized. Much like the NFL color commentator who won't shut up about the obvious ("You see here, how the quarterback hands off and the running back runs with the football"), the repetitious, preachy commentary destroys the impact of the great, scary footage which has been assembled. Why not describe how the footage was obtained and tell us how pervasive it is (Is it the #1 show or is it the equivalent of our Public Access TV)? Then show it and let the viewer come to the inescapable conclusion. The unnecessary, spooky music and intentional graining of the film was straight out of "Political Attack Ad 101". The disturbing footage does not need to be doctored and enhanced, since it loses its impact because it obviously looks doctored and enhanced. The most obvious propaganda is the long, botched attempt to equate Islamist Fascists with Nazism. Showing Nazis goose-stepping and comparing it to today's goose-stepping middle eastern armies proves nothing. It is a historically common way of marching and saluting in many countries, some very friendly to the west. It is not necessarily in a nostalgic homage to Uncle Adolf. This movie is a 4/10, one and a half star movie because the documentary certainly has some moments, which are unfortunately poorly presented by the filmmaker.
