Joe Bast | December 30, 2022
A Wisconsin Patriots Toolbox visitor asked for my thoughts on the Epoch Times’ recent (November 2022) documentary film, “The Final War: 1st Documentary on the 100-Year Plot to Defeat America.” It is streaming for free on the Epoch Times’ website: https://www.theepochtimes.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiAnZCdBhBmEiwA8nDQxZH0DQVTNE05CLGnwezS3RRi_IgxeSVAZ-z8QyYSv32O5jEK5Ynm4BoCUg0QAvD_BwE.
It is very long, 2 hours and 36 minutes. A break in the narration occurs at about 47 minutes, when a “Part 3” or something like that comes up on the screen. At that point, the film switches from reporting on current events to a long (1 hour plus 10 minutes) look at the history of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), documenting how anti-American sentiments were present even before the CCP won the civil war in China. If you’re pressed for time, consider skipping this to get to the final 10 minutes.
The Good: Credible talking heads, including Retired Gen. Robert Spaulding and Gordon Chang, high production values, beautiful images, scary images of guns and rockets and police brutalizing women and children. The translation of Chinese-language articles and transcripts into English is a nice touch and adds credibility to the film. This is a story that needs to be told because it gets very little attention in the corporate media. While we few patriots know the CCP has killed some 100 million of its own citizens and killed U.S. soldiers in Vietnam and Korea and more recently in Afghanistan and is now supporting Russia, most Americans still think about Nixon “opening” China, ping-pong diplomacy, and cheap consumer products. This film distinguishes the CCP from the Chinese people and really nails the former. The last 10 minutes or so presents a positive agenda to get the CCP out of American institutions, to rebuild our own institutions, and to focus on becoming once again the prosperous and just society that was a beacon to the world.
The Bad: It is much too long, at two-and-a-half hours. Like the previous Epoch Times documentary I reviewed, the narrator (Joshua Phillips) never speaks to the camera. Instead, we get B-roll of him driving, walking, typing, on the phone, and making tea. I think the film loses momentum every time this happens. If Phillips were speaking to the camera, I suspect he would talk faster, with more emotion, and be less long-winded. (Once again, I direct the reader to Tucker Carlson’s documentaries, where he does talk directly to the audience.) The discussion of the history of the CCP is too detailed and academic for a popular audience, even though it is well done. It crawls from 1948 through the Chinese civil war, Nixon, Tiananmen Square, 911, and finally the rise of Xi. Will there be a test at the end? Even I lost interest.
This film resembles an anti-China propaganda film intended to whip up public support for a war with China or one of its surrogates. I defer to no one on my distrust for and opposition to the CCP, but I am alarmed by how easily the public was persuaded to support our involvement in Ukraine, and maybe even direct war with Russia.
The bipartisan anti-war movement that rightly gained some ground under President Trump has disappeared in America in just 24 months. This film could make the situation even worse. It could give politicians cover for boosting the defense budget even higher or engaging in reckless stunts similar to inviting Ukraine to apply for NATO membership. Calling out threats to freedom here at home does not carry that downside.