Film Pick of the Week

Documentary filmmakers Alex Gibney and Eugene Jarecki (Gibney wrote, Jarecki directed, and both produced) examine the life and career of the former refugee from Nazi Germany, Harvard professor, national security adviser, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and secretary of state. The title, please note, says “Trials,” not “Trial.” A trial would entail defense, and Gibney and Jarecki offer none as they trace Kissinger’s involvement in the Paris peace talks, the 1969-1970 invasion of Cambodia, the Chilean coup against Salvador Allende, and the Indonesian campaign against East Timor. Their views on the subject are clear, but they avoid hysteria and hyperbole, and the film profits from their calm approach. It’s an engrossing and thought-provoking examination of the overriding will to gain power and the morality of its application.