Sorry, this movie sucks

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Crappy film

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

I recently viewed ETHOS and it just increased my lack of trust in big business and government practices.Not too long ago some friends and I were discussing many topics and politics came up. We were looking for a brief but accurate description of politics.We didn't find one.I went to sleep still thinking about this.I woke up three hours later with an acronym: Persons Of Low Integrity Talking In CircleSDoes this work?

Politicians are the Televangelists of the Corporate World: they preach what their financial backers want them to preach (no matter HOW f***ing stupid); this is one of the great Givens of the twenty-first century (which often calls to mind the a**-backward thinking of the Middle Ages). Compilation or not, ETHOS gets its message across most effectively (or the message(s) of the filmmakers whose documentaries comprise the various segments of this one...). I must admit, though, that the admonition to withhold one's financial support of the various criminal enterprises (i.e.; the corporations) profiled herein seems just a tad too late (since-the-second-World-War too late): the REAL damage has already been done- and it was done in large part because We didn't stand up and say ENOUGH! when there was still time to salvage something. I try to be optimistic. STAR TREK (the original series) and comic books taught me that We as a Species could change the world (and, perhaps, the Universe) for the Better. But I'm convinced at this point that we blew it. We're well on our way to the next "Extinction Event," and we did it to ourselves. GOP (Geriatric Older People) TV (Fox "News") played a BIG part in it: the ME (Moneyed Elite) of Reagan's "Mourning in America" have swayed so many simple-minded saps that the Flat Earthers have had The Final Say and it's "No!" to Science and "No!" to Common Sense and it'll STAY that way 'til we're all sucked under. Consider: The Corporate News (as far as I can tell) has made no mention of a recent Friendly Fire incident in which U.$. $oldier$ who had been ambushed called in a Drone strike and were themselves killed by said Drone. And how many newscasters made mention of the fact that there have been (as of this writing) 75 school shootings (or mass shootings, I forget which) since Newtown? Did anyone hear about Lafeyette, CO, where The People PREVENTED fracking by drawing up their own Community Bill of Rights to combat corporations? (The corporations stand poised to rape this area as I write: seismic testing has begun.) Oh, and one last item: Tony "The NitBrit" Blair claims that the current troubles in Iraq "have nothing to do with the Iraq War." He thinks it's an easy sell because the U.$.-backed dictator, the late Saddam Hussein, was such a b****** that some people STILL believe the war was about Weapons of Mass Destruction (which totally ignores the fact that plans had been drawn up to divide Iraq's oil resources a full DECADE before the U.$. invasion). End of screed.

According to the IMDb this documentary cost $500,000 . I wonder where the money spent on it went ? Reading some of the user comments it seems that it's basically a few segments from other documentaries so where'd the money go ? Was it Woody Harrelson's appearance fee ? Did it go to other documentary makers for using their clips ? Or did it go to copyright lawyers who sued Peter McGrain for using their clients documentary without their permission ? I think we should be told As it is ETHOS is one of these documentaries screaming at their audience that democracy isn't all it's cracked up to be and that capitalism is a rather amoral economic system . Next thing you know you'll be watching an earth shattering documentary that the Pope is Catholic and bears poo in a wood . It's vaguely structured in to several segments 1 ) We don't live in a democracy . As you might expect big names like Noam Chomsky and Tony Benn are wheeled out . Well not wheeled out per se because they appear in clips from other interviews they gave to other interviewers . Tony Benn by the way died recently and people on the political left like Michael Foot had nothing good to say about him when he was alive and other people on the left like Denis Healy and Neil Kinnock have nothing good to say about him now that he's dead . There's also a very obvious blunder at the start when a speaker says both the Democrats and the Republicans want to keep Cold War defence spending but this laughably untrue . Obama just a couple of weeks ago announced future defence cuts that will see the US Army lose 70,000 soldiers . With these cuts the American military will shrink to its lowest figure since 1941 . Are we to honestly believe American defence budgets in the 2020s will be similar to that of the 1960s when America was involved in Vietnam ? 2 ) Corporate companies in order to gain control of "the Earth's resources is the cause of so much wars in the world today as you will see " Except we don't get to see these wars . I don't think Iraq would have got invaded by an Anglo-American coalition if it didn't have oil but if you're making multiple claims it helps if you give a few examples 3 ) The media are controlled by these unseen corporate forces . Really ? Funny how if these unseen corporate all powerful companies are controlling the media it seems that they're unable to stop the dislike of corporate capitalism amongst the public . Apparently this marketing media know what buttons to push in order to make us buy a product ! Wow that must be why I've spent a fortune on tampons And so this documentary continues . Or to be more accurate this " documentary " continues stealing another clip from someone elses documentary in an barely disguised attempt to get us all to buy a tin foil helmet . One even starts to feel sorry for Harrelson as he spouts out another dubious theory and one wonders if he's been told the whole truth and was told he was hosting a socially conscious , environmentally friendly documentary rather than a loony conspiracy theory that this deranged pseudo documentary is . Mind you if someone gave me $500,000 I'd probably do the same - without spending a penny on tin foil hats

How do you rate a film like this? As a documentary, it makes a number of relevant points about the biggest problems within the structure of our society. Unfortunately, none of this material is new. Most of it is lifted directly from 2003's excellent documentary, "The Corporation" (http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=SnE8D3tgZ5c), and much is also lifted from "Zeitgeist 2" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gKX9TWRyfs). The only thing original to "Ethos" is Woody Harrelson's presence. When I say that most of this film's material is "lifted" from other films, I really mean "excerpted," or "plagarized." Do not watch this film expecting it to be an original creation. Contrarily to how it bills itself, it is in fact a compilation of other documentaries.As a compilation of sorts, Ethos works fine -- but frankly, I find it a little offensive that this film doesn't announce itself as such. A less informed viewer might assume this film to be wholly original, which would be -- apart from Harrelson's narration -- wholly inaccurate.Truthfully, you should pass-up "Ethos" and watch "The Corporation" and "Zeitgeist 2" instead. Footage from these two documentaries comprise a great deal of "Ethos," so if you like what you see here, you're honestly better-off watching the original films which have been liberally excerpted from.Given the dishonest way the film presents itself as something other than a compilation, I can't bring myself to award it more than a single star. But do keep in mind that, as a compilation, "Ethos" does serve as a nice summary of two or three other great documentaries. And, it must be said: Woody Harrelson's presence is seldom a bad thing.