haasxaar Globalization is a polarizing topic. This documentary was made at a time obviously before the obvious nadir for free market economics of this year, 2008. With the fall of Lehmann Brothers, Bear Stearns, Chrysler, GM and the precarious situation of many other large conglomerates the hypotheses have been discredited slightly that have been presented here.A new era is dawning as I write this. The cycles that have been depicted here in Part 1 are continuous and the "Austrian School" cycle is in its last days, in my humble opinion. This documentary shows, truthfully, how Keynesian economics was discredited and replaced in the Western Economies after the turbulent decade of the 1970s. What isn't mentioned is that several other western powers did not embrace the market-solutions of the USA and UK. France, Germany, Scandinavia and Japan all continued to follow certain Keynesian parameters. The miracles of Hayek-style solutions is portrayed with little counterbalancing examples of its negative sides.PBS has really tried hard to give an extensive depiction of the development of globalization since the war. There was much here that I did not know before. The many interviews with Sachs, Clinton, Cheney, de Soto and numerous Heads of State or former Heads of State from Asia and Europe. However, the skew in favour of the process of globalisation is all too evident. Few dissenting opinions are detailed or extensively dealt with. The usual arguments of pulling several people out of poverty, and the industrialisation of the developing world are constantly reiterated to imply, cleverly, that globalisation is an irreversible and beneficial process to everyone. However, I am well versed in this topic, and my reading does not extend to Naomi Klein and Michael Moore, but the problems and difficulties that accompany globalisation are not really even hinted at in this documentary.What this film shows is a good start. A good basis for knowledge for beginners about globalisation. However, my advise is get out and read, get out and discover. There are many issues left untouched in this documentary. It is amazingly interesting to look back at this film after the failures of the Bush administration and watch Richard Cheney say that few people have been harmed in the process of globalisation. We all know now that Cheney is not exactly someone who really has altruistic instincts as his core beliefs.I'm giving this documentary 7 out of 10 because its technical quality and depth with the amount of information and many interviews. However, its rightward tilt slightly unnerved me. Yet it does deliver a rational argument, despite being incomplete, about the whole discussion that does dominate a lot of contemporary political debate. So watch it and start reading.

Sander This was probably the best documentary I have ever seen.Commanding Heights is a paced and exciting look at historical events of the last century with glasses of economic policy. The soundtrack and film clips are very good and really improves the experience. I was also very impressed with the quality of the interviewed (Bill Clinton, Margaret Tatcher, Jeffrey Sachs, Milton Friedman etc.) The film takes a close look at various nuances within a planned and market economy. And for those commenting that this is too pro-market - you must have missed the first two hours. The first episode made me more prone to Keynesian ideas than I was before.Nevertheless, It is an excellent and fun documentary. You wont regret watching it and you will perhaps even feel slightly smarter.

Vishal Agrawal The overall idea of the documentary is to show how 'market' is evolving globally. Its in 3 parts. 1 part shows the market in the era of communism, depression and socialism. 2 part shows the opening of domestic markets in 70s and 80s and third part shows the cross border exchange of goods, ideas meaning 'globalization'. The over all attitude is very positive and politically neutral. The best part is that all economic changes are shown with political point of views and so they become more meaningful and easy to understand. Highest order economists and politicians are interviewed like Clinton, Thatcher, Hayek etc. Its not a Bible Sermon as I found this documentary a lil harsh on central planning issue. Keynes is compared with Marx and Lenin. They are completely different in their approaches and are very successful politicians/economists. Capitalism isn't working as well and so open market seems to be not the 'real solution' either. I really wonder what people have against Marx. Whatever Marx said is absolutely right. The real solution has to come from communism as Capitalism is losing ground because of the hoarding nature of human beings. We live in groups and community solutions are the real solutions for us. Anyways. It is a brilliant learning experience. Watch it if you wanna learn.

MotosuwA When I saw the intro to this documentary, I was flabbergasted; the first four minutes were dedicated to promote giant corporations like FedEx, BP and EDS. Also, the John Templeton Foundation (a promo for free-marked solutions) was one of the major contributors to the making of the movie. The movie portraits communism and planned economy almost as something evil, using a "red filter" effect and scary music when filming Kreml in Moscow.This documentary is mostly propaganda, and should not be used for educational purposes. In fact, this movie does not deserve to be called a documentary, as it is "paid and made" by the corporations/bourgeoise.