When I first heard of this documentary it piqued my interest that such an ambitious and timely program existed. A quick background on me - I recently returned (2 months ago) from 7 months straight of traveling (Loop around Australia, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Philippines, Palau, Hong Kong, Qatar, UAE, London/Oxford) which was a follow up to a 3 month road trip around most of the US and 6 weeks in South America and 2 weeks in China. I'm still going! One of my travel themes has been to visit where things are made or processed, and where they come from - a critical aspect of globalization. From the tea plantations in Sri Lanka to the mixing & packaging of that tea from Sri Lanka and 50+ other countries for Celestial Seasonings in Boulder, CO, USA (Did you know there is only 1 tea plantation in the US? And they went bankrupt recently). Or the Silicon Valley of India - Bangalore - as shown in the movie, or strip coal mining in Gilette, Wyoming, the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, or the natural gas reserve rich deserts of Qatar, etc..

Like any documentary or book there is a perspective. The show does a good job of framing the debate. It covers the perspectives of many different influential individuals and some lay people - and in many different countries to boot - lending an air of authority - which is fine as an explanation for the documentary's position. It does provide coverage to both positives and negatives.

However, my sense is that the show is far too positive about what unrestrained globalization will bring us. Not about the process to get to a "free" market - as shown in the "Agony of Reform" episode, but about the side effects to our lives and the world in which a large portion of the world lives in.

Also what is a "free" market? There is no such thing. The movie seems to keep repeating it only in reference to price and wage controls (From what I recall), but these can be controlled in other manners. Subsidies galore in the USA and other countries both direct and indirect will testify to that.

There are certainly other issues it does not address or go deep enough into and/or issues that are overly simplified. Perhaps that will be the work of another individual to reveal - me?

The #1 issue to me that the show does not talk more about or at all is the continuing disconnect between the items we consume and where the resources it takes to build those items/services come from and the impact it has on those places. Only lightly touched upon in the final episode. Realistically - the vast majority of people don't care about what they cannot / have not seen (Thus the importance of travel). Let alone understand how a series of events in a far away place will impact their lives. We can't get something for nothing. Globalization gives that impression. Like magic. The further away we are from production - the less we see the side effects. Like pollution clouds from runaway unregulated growth and auto sales in China (Go to Beijing for one) reaching distant shores - US, among a small list of many.

Don't get me wrong - the idea of globalizatoin improving our lives is true - but only to a certain point. Any idea taken to its extreme is usually wrong.

In contrast to this latter point might be how Singapore has restricted the unbridled usage of cars by putting a heavy import tax on them and designing cities in an intelligent way rather than haphazard (Like many American towns). As Singapore is profiled in the show as a success story - is this tax against the idea of a "free" market? Or is it a conscious choice to improve the quality of life and form it a certain way.

In summary, Commanding Heights - both the PBS website and video is a good basis for ongoing discussion. The only question will be then is whether the people / you who watch it will question it or take it as gospel. It is easy to get caught up and distort our vision in the momentum of thinking a certain way. All of us - rich, poor, middle, smart, educated, not educated, etc.. can be conditioned to believe anything. What's that story about De Beers of South Africa and the diamond trade again?

The truth and our behaviors are easily distorted to the unquestioning mind.

The only reason this video gets 2 stars (and not a complete zero) is because it does a decent job of explaining (some) aspects of post-WWII economic history that are almost completely unknown to the vast majority of Americans - even though such information should be taught in grade school (at least, if this was truly a free and democratic republic). A good example is the contrast between Keynesian and Austrian (Hayek) economics.

The reason the video is -- in all other respects -- an almost complete failure is b/c of the way in which words, facts and figures are twisted so as to sell the banker's nirvana of global capitalism. A good example is the fact (left unstated in the video) that Keynesian economics is little more than Communism w/ a friendly, happy British face (widely known, in polite society, as Fabian Socialism). Another good example is the depiction of the Thatcher/Reagan "Revolution" as Austrian in nature. Of course it wasn't -- deficit spending and fiat money (which is basically how one should characterize the 1980s) are anethema to Austrian economices, but the video never makes mention of this fact. There is a world of difference between the Austrian libertarians like von Mises and the Chicago monetarists (like Freidman and Schultz) who are deified in the video.

If you want a real dose of Austrian economics, check out Texas Representative Ron Paul -- he's probably the only one in Washington preaching sound fiscal policy these days.

There is another path to true economic prosperity - it's called the American Way. It was "invented" by German-American economist Friedrich List back in the early 19th century. It was List's model that was responsible for the post-Revolutionary succcess of the US, for the rapid industrialization of Germany in the late 19th century, and for Japan's economic success post-WWII.

And it's no coincidence that the video producers fail to make any mention of List. The agenda they choose to push instead is a globalist, one-world government under the rule of an unaccountable banking elite. Just look at who paid for the video in the credits at the end if you need any proof.

Watch this video if you want to familiarize yourself with the banking elite's manner and style of propaganda.

This film provides a generally good historical overview of the dominant LIBERAL political-economic philosophies of the 20th Century.

Soviet state socialism is unfortunately (and incorrectly) lumped together with the Keynesian welfare state social democracy, thus glossing over differences between these two forms of political-economic organization. Socialism is identified is any tendency to regulate the economy, thus radically glossing over socialism's utopian committments to equality, social justice, and the redistribution of wealth.

Throughout the film, the right-wing policies and practices of Hayek, Friedman, Sachs, Thatcher, and Reagan, along with the World Bank and IMF, are repeatedly celebrated and legitimized by the narrator. Neo-liberals and the CEOs of corporations are depicted as political revolutionaries and radicals while the anti-globalization movement and other social movements are portrayed as naive, sloppy, and ill-informed.

By the end of this documentary, the evolutionary history of capitalism, the end of viable 'alternatives' to free-markets, and the continued dominance of mainly American and Western firms seem inevitable; moreover, the movement of history towards contemporary 'globalization' is (falsely) portrayed as a natural phenomenon rather than a political one. The narrative argues that globalization has everything to do with nation-states and economic policy makers managining inflation and deficit crisis: there is no account of the role that the American imperium played constructing, militarily defending, and ideologically universalizing global capitalism; there very little discussion about of the downside of global capitalism including world terrorism, inter-imperial rivalries and war, environmental catatsrophe and destruction, the increasing division of rich and poor between and within first and third world countries, overproduction/underconsumption, the erasure of indigenous culture, etc.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed watching this film: it introduced me to the dominant belief systems of and rhetorical strategies used by the world's most powerful people.

What a fantastically informative video series. For those who are hard core economists, this is probably baby stuff for you, but I think there is enough footage of current events around the world, (in Chile, Mexico, etc) that you might find it of interest. I think that this series is aimed at people like my husband and me - hardcore PBS and History Channel watchers who like to learn and are interested in economics, but don't have a deep economics background. This series is fresh and interesting with footage from current newsreels, interviews with world leaders and other area experts. The series also delves into the historical background of many ideas from 20th century economics (Von Hayek versus Keynes anyone?) in a fascinating, informative way. This is an educational video series, and I think that it is more beneficial for people such as myself, with a limited background in economics, but it is delivered in such an interesting and insightful fashion, linking current and recent events (and those from recent decades) of the political world with those of the economic world that it is a pleasure to watch. This will be a series that I will watch numerous times.

If there were only more stars to give. This truly exceptional documentary takes an intriguing look at the effect of governmental policy on the markets of the world, and does so while offering excellent historical perspective. The treatment of political approaches is fair and objective, showing both the positive and negative impact of all types of policy. However, the clear and undeniable conclusion is that unfettered free markets will provide the most benefit to the most people. What a joy to see such an honest, straightforward, analytical approach in such an interesting format.