Search - Broken Promises: The United Nations at 60 on DVD

Illuminating

C. Alyea | 04/04/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD is educational for those who were not quite old enough

to remember why the United Nations was originally formed. It also

outlines the faults which have occurred since the original

charter was signed."

UN- worthy

M. J. Wilkinson | Santa Rosa, California | 07/11/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Ts a former Deputy US Representative on the Security Council, I can say the makers simply do not understand how the UN works. For example, the United States had the knowledge and could have used its position on the Security Council to intervene in Rwanda -- UN officials could have done more, but it's the Security Council members who call the shots and bear responsibility. I can also say with confidence, there is no valid excuse for American Representatives on the Security Council to have turned blind eyes, as they did for months, to the rape of children by UN forces in the Congo. Nor has America introduced Security Council resolutions to change the system which allows this to happen. (Obviously, the other SC members are equally guilty, but they aren't aupposed to be moral beacons of the same magnitude as America.)



"Broken Promises" just thwacks away at the easy target without ever getting to the heart of the matter -- the UN 's member states and their behaviors.



"

Its OK

Howard S. Frierman | upstate NY | 01/07/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Interesting documentary about the UN (and what it does and does not accomplish), but its only about an hour long and more could have been done. Ron Silver's project. Worth seeing; not sure its worth buying, however, unless you can find it pre- owned (then its about the same price as a rental, if you can even find it in your local video store)."

Oversimplified and somewhat inaccurate

Nivien Saleh | Flagstaff, AZ | 05/19/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This film on the United Nations examines the goals the founders of the UN envisaged for the organization and then investigates how the UN failed in light of these original goals. The sixty-five minute documentary is divided up into the following topics: the original promise; the United Nations and Israel; peacekeepers; Rwandan genocide; Srebrenica massacre; scandals and corruption; reform.

In the first critical topic the authors claim that the UN has failed Israel, starting in 1948, when it did not defend the country against the attacking Arab armies. It does not mention that the organization has also failed 2.5 million Palestinians who have lived under Israeli occupation for almost forty years and whose citizenship rights this international body never enforced. The argument that the UN is systematically biased against Israel is therefore oversimplified.

The other discussions appear all right to me, even though the authors fail to point out that different failures of the UN have different underlying causes and therefore need to be addressed in different ways. Examples are alleged rapes of women in Congo by UN personnel and failure to send UN troops to Rwanda. Clearly, these are two very different problems that call for separate solutions. In light of this fact the documentary's final chapter, which calls for reform, falls short. It provides no way out of the bleak picture the authors have drawn, leaving the viewer with the question: And now what?

To make a long story short, I may play the better segments of this film in my college course on international organizations. The main reason for this choice is that I have not managed to locate another documentary on the UN. I would, however, have preferred a more sophisticated treatment of this important organization."