Movie Review (II): Anatomy of a Great Deception—The Happening

Launch Party premier of extraordinary film by David Hooper
Event commentary and movie review by Brian Wright

Marqiuee_DaylightThis column is as much a ‘Happening’ review as a movie review. The Happening is the actual debut of the film, in Detroit, Michigan, at the Fillmore entertainment center (for most of its life, the State Theatre). Mr. David Hooper, producer and writer/director of the film, is on hand, as are the many people on the production and promotion team. In addition, Mr. Richard Gage, founder and director of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth (AE911truth.org), comes into town to introduce Dave on stage and generally contribute to the success of the launch.

Then entré the hundreds of ticket holders. [All right, not hundreds in ‘close to a thousand,’ but definitely ‘close to 500.’ And enthusiastic, of all ages and conditions. Myself and Susan? We bought the VIP package.] Premier or launch night is to be a Big Deal, full of entertainment acts, limos, and the normal trappings of a glitzy opening night. Ours isn’t quite up to Hollywood standards—for one thing I don’t see a single tuxedo and only a few women are wearing evening gowns. [Idle thought: I can’t help wondering how the top dress designers who like to show lovely soft skin are going to accommodate the younger crowd coming along, many of whom go in for these broad swaths of blue-gargoyle body art.]

Red_Carpet[Note: I’m not grousing  by any means, as you’ll see later, only doing my part as a journalist:]
The Fillmore is a lot glitzier and commodious on the inside than on the outside: 1) street air temperature is in the 90s, 2) the Fillmore is on the other side of the street from Detroit Tiger Stadium (which is having a game tonight), 3) road construction abounds, narrowing the broad expanse of Woodward Avenue to one lane in front of the theatre—good for pedestrian safety but makes congestion and parking even more problematic (and expensive), 4) not only does the Fillmore lack its own parking, there’s no indoor space for early arrivals: “Doors open at 7:00 p.m.” we’re told rather brusquely by the ticket chick.

Special_CeilingIn general, the leadup and hanging out in either the VIP line or the regular ticket line is, well, kind of grungy, to be candid. Certainly, any VIP worth his limo wouldn’t stand for such rude conditions… unless of course there’s a cause involved. Besides, I’ve just parked my 1997 Mercury Villager for $20, and I hardly feel VIP. Yet. Hey, the Fillmore is a comer, catering mainly to the young crowd for music and dancing events. The management and worker bees have to be averaging 30 years old; I give them tons of street credit for trying to make a go of it here in what used to be a great American city… at one time a jewel of the Midwest, a close second to the Windy City 200 miles west (Chicago).

MarqueeFact is, aside from the exasperating event ticketing processes—we’re told to stand on the red carpet entrance area, but when the names for the VIPs come down to the ticket office, we have to refile on the other side of the ropes to be given our wristbands (itself a bizarre process where the clerk reads from a listing, finds your name, checks your ID, then has you insert your wrist into the ticket window where she wraps a yellow ribbon around it)—and the aforementioned rude conditions, I’m wholly in my element. And so is my ‘date’ the lovely Susan Starchild of Grosse Ile. Eventually, the doors part and we make our way into a nostalgic architectural treasure toward the final stages of restoration. Wow!

Poster_Elevated_Cropped

Wow, again! Now I truly feel like the VIP I paid $32 for back on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform. It’s like flying first class without your wallet being dragged through the coals. And once you get a taste of such things, you rather come to like the experience. I’m already used to this feeling, and I’m sure so are the others on this wavelength paid for in passion for truth and justice.  The building totally lives up to one’s feeling specially occasioned, just the right touch of an elegant past combined with refurbished balcony seating… not to mention an open bar. “Susan, let me buy you whatever you’re having.” We are totally in the catbird’s perch watching Anatomy on a screen 2/3 the wingspan of a 757.

From_BalconyIt is a complete cinematic audio-visual delight, the sound system fully up to the task… for which I must say the superior production values pose a formidable challenge. I’ll review the movie—commenting further on those values—below, but first let me comment on the remainder of my plush special evening for La Causa in the Motor City. This fine spectacle, and the reception at Filmmaker Hooper’s digs the previous night, represent the skillful melding of two sorts of self-starting people: media and technical. Which in turn bring legions of friends and supporters from both camps to mix and match. What marvelous interaction in the aftermath of the film.

Hooper_on_StageIn other words, we’re on a roll now. Dave Hooper is our fortunate catalyst, the entrepreneur with a funloving streak and a glint in his eye who nonetheless is Detroit everyman… and by those roots connected naturally to ‘just folks’ around the country, and around the world. Anatomys unique ‘personalization’ of the cause is what will carry the field and win the day. Just as his friends and family came to the truth after watching the first iteration of Dave’s labor of love, so, too, will all (well, most, initially, but, yes, all, eventually, because truth will out in the end… even on 9/11) of our own friends and family—we who have labored more anonymously for so long under the burden of rejection—when they see the world-class, polished version.

Richard_Debra_FreighterI want to salute all the creative media and entertainment business people who enabled Dave’s artistic vision. I don’t recall all their names, but I’ll get them right soon enough. [I’m told a sequel(s) is in the offing.] I also want to send kudos out to the AE911 leadership and other industrious truthers who have been working the fields so persistently for years, as myself, with more discouragement than reward. Now we see the light at the end of a loooonggg tunnel.

Without our valuable work and indomitable spirit, Dave would not have had the shoulders to stand on… to see such a promising route to daylight. Many of these local Detroit-area people were invited to the Hoopers’ domicile on Grosse Ile for a private reception the night before the Launch.

Hooper_w_Couple Mark_Dick_Stan_DaveSo just a note or two and pictures on that soirée: Talk about personalization! David is all about his wife Betsy and their family, which I believe is a blend of three boys from her previous and one girl of their own—but the details elude me. The birth of the 4th occurred in the middle of the Anatomy project, and along with financial downturns put some serious stress on their marriage. [These deeply emotional trials the moviemaker went thru, even very close to the point of Betsy’s walking out the door, are the front-and-center humanizing qualities that lend universal, man-on-the-street credit to David’s film. As if to tell us, “Any struggle this valiant and risky must certainly bear deep and Toastabiding truth in its soul; no one out for a lark would have persisted against such adversity.”]

But the reception is not about business, rather fun and celebration. The David Hooper story of rags-to-riches cycles will soon become part of American folklore, I’m sure, but for now you may simply log on to LinkedIn to get his D&B 411. He’s a classic entrepreneur, and Anatomy is the product of his film company, MovingFlicks.com. Qua moviemaker, Dave has assembled many skilled contributors—from cinematographers, set designers, sound architects, editors and writers, producers, media and PR persons, technical advisors (primarily via AE911 resources), and so on… most working for peanuts. I meet the sound man, also named Dave, tonight, and some other team members. But the majority of Hooper’s people at the reception, aside from half a dozen local 9/11 truth activists and their guests, like me, are simply Dave and Betsy’s Grosse Ile neighbors and friends. Enchanté.

Poster_GroundSo that’s enough of the sociology. Let me give major snaps to everyone on the production and distribution team. They performed their magic splendidly! The production values are world class. From my brief personal contact with Dave Hooper, I have a solid, growing conviction that the man is what we call ‘a winner.’ A special sort of guy who looks trouble in the face and if he can’t finesse it or walk around it, basically plows through it. He keeps his eye on the prize, and the prize in his eyes is an order of magnitude taller than what we more run-of-the-mill workers have in mind. I believe he sees Anatomy sweeping the world and winning an Oscar for best documentary, while making $millions. What’s more, he causes many of us to see the same thing. What a find! What a guy! And he achieves his success having a bundle of good-old-fashioned fun doing it.

As Victor Laszlo says to Rick Blaine in Casablanca, “Now I know our side will win.”

The Review

Brian_Crop_1Like David, I came to question the official story of the 9/11/2001 attacks several years after they took place. But unlike David, my frustration in not being able to get friends, family, and huckleberries to so much as look at the evidence did not lead to creation of a deeply personal movie as a way around these obstacles. The same may be said for the soon-to-be millions of 9/11 truth activists (and Gandhian Satyagraha activists)[1] around the world. Despite mountains of evidence and persistent strong reasoning from objective reality, our collective batting average in convincing others to look at the evidence has been approximately 0.015… and that’s counting walks as singles.:)

Why Won’t They Look at the Evidence?!

Because they are afraid. Simple as that. It has nothing to do with logic and science, or the gargantuan, absolutely cartoonish holes in the official story. No. People just don’t want to know. One man told me, “Even if what you’re saying is true, I’m not going to believe it!” Which translates, “I have this deep anxiety that truth about the crime of the century—specifically that ‘my country’ had a causal role in it—will destroy ‘my country’ and, with it, me.” After decades of sophisticated mind control by the ruling class, millions of Americans see themselves basically as flag-waving consumer-puppets, mind-pawns who literally can’t function without some Wizard of HDTV pulling the strings.

Thus the average ‘respectable’ middle-class American—meaning those who have a stake in the system, who have been assured by teachers, employers, accountants, attorneys, anchormen, real estate agents, and establishment pols that “all will be well in the garden” so long as they don’t ask too many questions—is going to effin’ freak out when Toto starts wandering over toward the Curtain of Illusion. “Do… not… go… there,” is the hysterical refrain… accompanied by primeval, limbic-system hatred toward any truth-seeking Dorothy who neglects to keep her dog leashed.

Note: From my experience, the deeper you go into ‘the 99%’, meaning into the vast blue collar majority whose lives have been throttled, jobs lost, and who never got within sipping distance of a silver spoon… the more people are inclined to look at the evidence, to be open to the truth and arguments that 9/11 was an inside job. They have nothing to lose. Should the facts reveal that inner sanctums of the Western Oligarchy hatched and performed the horrific attacks, the common man will not be astounded. It merely confirms what he already knows: the 1% are mad dog murderous psychopaths who must be stopped. [Opinion polls corroborate that most people do not believe the official story of 9/11 for a New York minute. Most of Europe thinks Americans are trapped in a 9/11 ‘Truman Show,’ they keep waiting for us to see it’s not real.]

But as libertarian ‘sensei’ and humorist Karl Hess once put it: “Everybody’s people.” Even after years inside the Matrix—with 1000s of hours of confinement in government schools and decades of pushing the fools-gold levers of Madison Avenue—most humans, most Americans anyway, still have a feel of their own enormous potential as individuals. They know there’s a set of spark plugs lying around somewhere that belong to them; that they are meant to think and do for themselves as individuals, make their own Bang-Bang free of the sad HD Cage of Glitter-Flicker.

Creatively Encouraging People to ‘Look at the Evidence’

That’s what David Hooper does. In his own words:

Movie_Jacket“Even though, I didn’t know it at the time, work on this film started in February 2011. Back then I was a regular guy trying to live the American dream, with three kids and a wife, who was pregnant with number four!

“It started with an innocent question about 9/11. And that lead to more innocent questions. And after a while, I completely changed my opinion of the official story of that day.

“That was a very hard time in my life. It felt like my world was turned upside down. I couldn’t stop researching. I was unemployed. And I was running out of savings. I tried talking about it, but felt like no one was listening. At the time, my wife didn’t even believe me . . . nor did my friends and family. No matter what I tried, nothing worked.

“So, to preserve my sanity and save my marriage, I began putting this film together. I had no idea any of this would ever happen because I simply made it for my wife, my sister and a couple of dear friends. I made it to speak to them directly, to get them to open their eyes. And it worked, because just about all my friends and family that have seen it have changed their opinion about 9/11, maybe all by the time you read this!

“As time went on, I realized there are millions of people, like me, who’ve had a hard time talking about the truth of 9/11 with people in our lives. As I further understood that and continued getting requests to see the film, it began to evolve into a “bridge” for all us, no matter where we stand on 9/11.

“Mostly, the film is meant to be an effective introduction to the controversies of 9/11 for those of us who still have no idea there are any controversies. If this issue is going to ever get into the spotlight, it’ll need a catalyst and I hope this film can do it.

And for that, for figuring out that the best way around refusal to see is to tell your own emotional story in vivid imagery, we in the 9/11 truth movement and the broader global Satyagraha are totally in Mr. Hooper’s debt.

My Impressions of the Premier Version of Anatomy

Note that the first version of the film was prereleased in the spring of 2014. It lacks many of the higher production-value bells and whistles of the launch version. And some of the content has been significantly energized. Nonetheless, one common thread that breaks thru into the final version is the energetic and Dragnet-style pace of the video: “just the facts, mam, so pay attention.” Hooper is not easily distracted: he’s like a bright kid who likes to play in the yard, but when he sees a butterfly emerging from a cocoon turns it into a science project.

It wasn’t until 2011 that Dave decided to look into the World Trade Center destruction. He discovered that WTC Building 7 had also come down in a manner that Dan Rather stated resembled a controlled demolition. Without having been struck by a plane. Further, the original 9/11 Commission Report had not mentioned WTC7 even in passing. This seemed very strange. It also just seemed wrong, very wrong, that the government had persistently ignored requests from surviving family members to conduct a true forensic investigation of what happened to the New York high-rises.

At this point, Dave was hooked, there was no turning back, like Alice in Wonderland, he was going to see this mindblowing adventure through to the end. He mainly describes the various evidence of controlled demolition for WTC7… let me be more specific:

  • Free fall speed
  • Symmetrical collapse
  • Molten steel
  • Neat rubble piles
  • Explosions
  • High-tech US military-grade thermite

… and half a dozen more, each of them thoroughly documented and supported by experts. He then recounts the blatant denials and lies of government ‘investigation’ officials such as the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) who go so far as to claim nobody (including the government agency FEMA who documented it… and hundreds of persons) ever witnessed molten metal. Well, for Dave, that pretty much made it a slam dunk that the official story was toast—further that the highest powers in government and corporate media were participating in a desperate coverup… not to mention a futile one.

As the Buddhist saying goes: “Three things cannot remain long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”

Top_View_Gage_InterviewAnatomy of a Great Deception is a powerful movie, one best viewed on an 40’x80′ screen in a classic old theater with a rock concert sound system. Even though it’s a documentary. The sound backdrop is dramatic and uplifting, heavy on drumrolls and other percussion, it moves. Relentless, is the one word I would use to describe the overall effect: despite the litany of technical facts and personal testimony you never twiddle your thumbs, rather keep them glued to the edge of your seat. Like bad cop/good cop or the musical principle alternating masculine and feminine themes, David relates the true 9/11 story via highly esteemed experts, puts in his two cents, then pauses for a ‘family moment:’ as in, “I had just learned that the media had foreknowledge of WTC 7’s destruction when Betsy went into labor and our savings had run out…” [kidding for emphasis, but it’s pretty close to real].

The average viewer is reluctantly drawn along by a jackhammer-fact narrative that tanks his entire belief system, then despite himself warms to this everyman narrator whose simple ideals for truth and justice are undercut by misperceptions of family and friends. These are some universal heartstrings being tugged at here. Esp. the guy thing: “Hazel, remember that Christmas-tree deal up in Gaylord that would have had us living like kings… but you refused to cash in your 401K? Well, here’s a can’t-lose reindeer farm for a fraction of the price.”  🙂

In the end, most viewers acquiesce: they open their eyes. Step 1.

Movie_JacketWith 9/11 and Satyagraha, we the people will not be denied. We shall enter the New Paradigm of human society—peace, freedom, and abundance—riding high on the message that ‘our beliefs will be determined by knowledge rather than our knowledge determined by beliefs.’  Dave Hooper’s positive journey of discovery, shared successfully with his wife and friends, now us, and soon to be thousands and millions of others, is the unique personal touch[2] that makes this film so vital to Satyagraha. He’s walked the walk and shows the rest of us how to gracefully lead others to look at the evidence; the world will never be the same. This is entertainment of the most intelligent, humanitarian kind.

Relish the opportunity if you have it to attend a true showing on the Big Screen. Also, buy the film and distribute widely. Host your own Anatomy DVD parties at local libraries and universities. Or if you don’t want to socialize, simply hand the film to your friends, family, and huckleberries for private viewing in private conscience. Remember the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes: once a small child attests to the facts, the obvious sweeps the realm… in a heartbeat.  Be the leading edge you wish to see in the world.

Then Step 2.

[1] Gandhi argued that the global truth force or movement, which he called Satyagraha, was the spiritual requirement for overcoming the epic evils of misplaced power, that such power could not withstand the constant, nonviolent, grassroots assertion of humane truth. Ironically, he is supposed to have uttered this deep insight on 9/11/1901.

[2] Dave is a fellow Detroiter who has lived in the city and around it his whole life. I believe his origins and his work and play in the Detroit community add a special poignance to his creation: The Motor City, perhaps more than any other, symbolizes the American Dream: its humble blue collar appeal, its multiethnicity, and the aspirations of all of us to leverage our bootstraps and make something of our lives. With hard work and devotion to family, to country, and to whatever god(s) we hold dear. Real Detroiters, like real Americans, ask nothing of our public officials, no handouts, no bailouts: we only want them to work honestly, without favoritism or excess, and to accord us the simple truth of things.

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2 thoughts on “Movie Review (II): Anatomy of a Great Deception—The Happening

  1. At the end of the film Mr. Hooper glorifies the likes of William Cooper with the exact same level or even more enthusiasm than he gives to the great legacy of scientific evidence that AE911truth has uncovered. In his serious late night investigations, I presume Mr. Hooper would have at least looked at wikipedia’s entry on Cooper. There he would have discovered Mr. Cooper’s legacy of promoting that JFK was killed because he was to disclose an ET invasion and how Cooper shot a sheriff’s deputy in the head and was then killed himself in the arrest raid. It is extremely irresponsible for Mr. Hooper to present Cooper as having the same or even more importance than the evidence presented by AE911truth in his film. The AE911truth board of directors (not the petition signers) formally endorsed this film and centrally helped in its fundraising. Be prepared to hear Mr. Hooper discuss Cooper’s Illuminati world views on radio and other media when he is asked.

  2. Even if the public pressure builds to a point that forces the pols to hold hearings, the truth will not come out.

    For example, the Branch Davidian and David Koresh murders were investigated by a Republican congressional committee. The Republicans yielded to the Democrat’s “minority.” The Democrats made up the witness list and effectively squelched a meaningful investigation..

    Lon Horiuchi, the FBI sniper that murdered Randy Weaver’s wife was indicted and charged by the state with second degree murder. A federal judge took the case away from the state because Horiuchi was a federal employee. The judge dismissed the charge because of the immunity enjoyed by federal thugs acting in the line of duty.

    The only way that 911 will stop being the butt of conspiracies is if it is investigated by a citizen’s grand jury with full subpoena power, and even that is a long shot. Congressional hearings will bury any evidence linking it to the federal government, or to Israel’s Mossad if it is implicated.

    The Kennedy assassination Warren Commission, and the Pearl Harbor hearings ignored the embarrassing testimony and evidence. The feds protect their own. If congress or a special prosecutor investigates 911 it will be a white wash.

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