Zeitgeist: Addendum

Zeitgeist: Addendum
Directed by	Peter Joseph
Produced by	Peter Joseph
Edited by	Peter Joseph
Music by	Peter Joseph
Distributed by	GMP LLC
Release date	October 2008 (2008-10)
Running time	123 min
Country	United States
Language	English

Zeitgeist: Addendum is a 2008 documentary film produced and directed by Peter Joseph, and a sequel to the 2007 film Zeitgeist: The Movie. It premiered at the 5th Annual Artivist Film Festival in Los Angeles, California on October 2, 2008

Synopsis

The film begins and ends with excerpts from a speech by Jiddu Krishnamurti. The remainder of the film is narrated by Peter Joseph and divided into four parts, each prefaced by an on-screen quotation from a notable scholar: Krishnamurti, John Adams, Bernard Lietaer, and Thomas Paine, respectively.

Part I

Part One discusses the monetary system in the United States through the fractional reserve banking system as illustrated in the book, "Modern Money Mechanics". Part One discusses the mechanism of money creation as an exchange between the government and the central bank (Federal Reserve in the U.S.).

Part II

Part Two shares an interview with John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hitman, who said he was involved in the subjugation of Latin American economies by multinational corporations, including the United States government's involvement in the overthrow and installation of various Latin American heads-of-state.

Part III

Part Three introduces Jacque Fresco and the Venus Project, and it asserts a need to move away from current socioeconomic paradigms.

Fresco states that capitalism perpetuates the conditions it claims to address, as problems are only solved if there is money to be made, and if more money can be made by propagating the problem rather than solving it, the problem will be propagated.

Part IV

The final statement of the film is to boycott the most powerful banks in the Federal Reserve System, the major news networks (CNN, ABC, NBC, Fox, etc.), the military, energy corporations, all political systems; and to join, support, and proliferate The Zeitgeist Movement.

Reception

Award

Zeitgeist: Addendum won the 2008 Artivist Film Festival's award for best feature ("Artivist Spirit" category).

Audience response

The film was originally released on Google Video but has been removed with the ending of that video service. The current video posting on YouTube surpassed 5,000,000 views by late 2013.

Critical response

Alan Feuer of The New York Times summarized the film as "a utopian presentation of a money-free and computer-driven vision of the future, a wholesale reimagination of civilization"…likening it to the works of Karl Marx, Carl Sagan, and John Lennon. He quoted director Joseph's summary as simply "the application of the scientific method for social change." Feuer also noted that while the previous film was famous for its alleging that the attacks of September 11 were an inside job, the second installment "was all but empty of such conspiratorial notions, directing its rhetoric and high production values toward posing a replacement for the evils of the banking system and a perilous economy of scarcity and debt."

Film critic Bill Stamets for the Chicago Sun-Times characterized Joseph's source materials as "disparate," writing: "At times, Peter Joesph skirts with esoterica. Never as kooky as 'visionaries' Lyndon LaRouche and L. Ron Hubbard, he nonetheless partakes in science worship, sci-fi mind-slavery metaphors, and a global banking obsessions [sic]."

See also

• Criticism of capitalism
• Zeitgeist: Moving Forward

External links

• Zeitgeist: Addendum at IMDb
• Zeitgeist: Addendum at Rotten Tomatoes