Product Details

• Directors: Citizens United
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Deep Distribution
• DVD Release Date: February 21, 2006
• Run Time: 65 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000BVM1X2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #185,484 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

As the United Nations turned 60 in the summer of 2005, world leaders, scholars, and government officials addressed the following questions: Has the U.N. lived up to its founders ideals and what has been accomplished since its inception? Has the world body been successful in protecting human rights and preventing genocide? Can the organization be effective in the wake of the oil for food scandal and other internal crises? Led by Writer and Director Kevin Knoblock and narrated by actor Ron Silver, Broken Promises, The United Nations at 60, features interviews on various UN issues. It presents the history of the United Nationshighlighting the gap between the good intentions and ideals of itsinception and the sad reality of its present state of inefficiency andcorruption. Format: DVD, one disc Run Time: 65 minutes Producer: Citizens United UPC: 686506205295

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Its OK, January 7, 2007

By 

Howard S. Frierman (upstate NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Broken Promises: The United Nations at 60 (DVD)

Interesting documentary about the UN (and what it does and does not accomplish), but its only about an hour long and more could have been done. Ron Silver's project. Worth seeing; not sure its worth buying, however, unless you can find it pre- owned (then its about the same price as a rental, if you can even find it in your local video store).

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Illuminating, April 4, 2006

By 

C. Alyea - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Broken Promises: The United Nations at 60 (DVD)

This DVD is educational for those who were not quite old enough
to remember why the United Nations was originally formed. It also
outlines the faults which have occurred since the original
charter was signed.

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Oversimplified and somewhat inaccurate, May 19, 2006

By 

Nivien Saleh (Flagstaff, AZ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Broken Promises: The United Nations at 60 (DVD)

This film on the United Nations examines the goals the founders of the UN envisaged for the organization and then investigates how the UN failed in light of these original goals. The sixty-five minute documentary is divided up into the following topics: the original promise; the United Nations and Israel; peacekeepers; Rwandan genocide; Srebrenica massacre; scandals and corruption; reform.
In the first critical topic the authors claim that the UN has failed Israel, starting in 1948, when it did not defend the country against the attacking Arab armies. It does not mention that the organization has also failed 2.5 million Palestinians who have lived under Israeli occupation for almost forty years and whose citizenship rights this international body never enforced. The argument that the UN is systematically biased against Israel is therefore oversimplified.
The other discussions appear all right to me, even though the authors fail to point out that different failures of the UN have different underlying causes and therefore need to be addressed in different ways. Examples are alleged rapes of women in Congo by UN personnel and failure to send UN troops to Rwanda. Clearly, these are two very different problems that call for separate solutions. In light of this fact the documentary's final chapter, which calls for reform, falls short. It provides no way out of the bleak picture the authors have drawn, leaving the viewer with the question: And now what?
To make a long story short, I may play the better segments of this film in my college course on international organizations. The main reason for this choice is that I have not managed to locate another documentary on the UN. I would, however, have preferred a more sophisticated treatment of this important organization.