Review of Active Measures (2018) by Ray J — 19 Sep 2018

A lot of talking heads rapidly spinning a theory about Donald Trump being the puppet of Putin, with quickly interspersed clips and pacy, ominous music. Interviewees include Hillary Clinton and John McCain, so obviously no axe to grind, as well as a few ex-CIA folks. You get the impression that the evidence is there as the camera quickly pans over documents, but if you hit pause so you can read the darn things you'll find the documents aren't of any genuine interest, and don't support the point being made. Here and there the documentary unintentionally veers into self-parody, e.g. when Hillary adds "manspreading" to the list of Putin's crimes.

It's mostly one-sided interpretation masquerading as fact and unproven (and sometimes unprovable) speculation. On the plus side, though, there are few if any out-and-out falsehoods. The documentary contains opinion disguised as fact, but does not tell outright lies.

So why three stars? It's well made and attention grabbing, The production quality is high. The makers got some good people to sit down with them, and the biases of the big names are well known. It's worth a watch if you're interested in an overview of the Trump-Putin narrative that many people are trying to prove. If it were more clearly labeled as opinion, I would give it a higher score.