Echelon documentary, reviewed in Variety

Monday April 28, 2003 16:55

by Ken

I haven't heard anything about Echelon for a while, so here's a timely Variety review of a new French documentary titled "Echelon: The Secret Power".

The final line is a good summary: "Backed up by leading British and
New Zealand investigative journalists and former security agents from
the countries concerned, so overwhelming and smartly presented is
doc's thesis that by the time a former CIA head weighs in with a
straight-faced rebuttal, he appears to have less credibility than a bag
lady raving about little green men."

Echelon: The Secret Power

Echelon: Le Pouvoir Secret
(Docu -- France) A France 2, KUIV production. (International sales:
SFP, Bry-sur-Marne, France.) Produced by Michael Rotman, Mahel
Ranc. Directed, written by David Korn-Brzoza.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Lisa Nesselon
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you phone, fax or email a friend to say "Let's go see 'Echeleon: The
Secret Power,'" be advised, you'll doubtless end up on a list
somewhere. Juicy, entertaining and densely informative doc
demonstrates the extent to which private communications are illegally
and constantly spied on by the title network, which spans the globe,
plumbs the ocean depths and beams into outer space and back.
Visually and intellectually lively doc, designed to mimic an espionage
thriller, is a riveting, spine-tingling account of five sneaky English-
speaking nations working in collusion. Sure to be a fest favorite,
"Echelon" should be snapped up by tube outlets hither and yon and
beyond.

Shot split screen/widescreen in mock "surveillance camera" mode, pic
piles on the revelations with matter of fact authority. Doc traces roots of
comprehensive electronic surveillance to 1943, when the U.S. and
Great Britain pacted to break Germany's Enigma code, shortening
WWII by as much as two years.

[snip. --DBM]

Doc overflows with real names and precise addresses. In a modest
building at 8 Palmer St. in London, for example, every fax entering or
leaving the U.K. was analyzed in the 1980s, according to information in
the docu.

Ecehlon grows ever more powerful with next to no oversight. In the
early 1970s the base on British soil in Cornwall had only two antennae.
Now 21 dishes are aimed at over 21 satellites.

Easy to grasp 3-D diagrams show how simple it is to intercept various
signals. Programs with titles like "Advanced Vortex" cull transmissions
to and from pagers and mobile phones.

Semantic Intelligence is the term for scanning for spoken words.
"Voicecast," a form of personalized voice recognition, is credited with
making the shooting of Emilio Escobar in 1993 possible.

Fred Stock, a Canadian agent from 1987-1993, testifies that he was
instructed to listen in on the Red Cross, Greenpeace, Amnesty Intl. and
-- get this -- Princess Diana when she began campaigning against
landmines. The Queen of England, even the Pope--nobody is
impervious. Backed up by leading British and New Zealand
investigative journalists and former security agents from the countries
concerned, so overwhelming and smartly presented is doc's thesis that
by the time a former CIA head weighs in with a straight-faced rebuttal,
he appears to have less credibility than a bag lady raving about little
green men.

Camera (color, widescreen), Claude Pavelek, Bjorn Kathofer, Bruno
Henry, Christophe Petit, Korn-Brzoza; editor, Cecile Coolen; music,
Francoise Marchesean; sound (Dolby), Robin Aramburu, Witold
Kubeck. Reviewed at Gothenburg Film Festival, Sweden, Jan. 26,
2003. (Also in Amsterdam Documentary Festival.) Running time: 82
MIN.
Narrator: Francois Devienne.