Product Details

• Directors: Adam Curtis
• Format: NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Number of discs: 2
• Studio: successunlimitedpub.com
• DVD Release Date: August 30, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000VA5Z9A
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #40,664 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Century of Self [2 DVD Set]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Documentary about the role of psychoanalysis, marketing, and public relations in the united states. From the same director as "the power of nightmares"

This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars One of the Greatest Documentaries Ever...Rip off DVD-R, November 20, 2007

By	Spunk Monkey (The pit of despair) - See all my reviews

This film was produced by the BBC for public television, and therefore the filmmakers were able to use "copyrighted materials" for a much reduced rate. The problem is, that in the event that the film ever gets a formal "release," that is, for profit, a much higher rate would be charged for the same footage. It is for this reason that this documentary may never get a theatrical release in the US, nor a "real" DVD release.

This is an utter shame, for this film is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen, and stands, in my opinion, alongside "The Architecture of Doom" as the best ever. It is rich, intriguing, thought provoking, and a powerful example of "film as literature," being as stimulating as a great book. It is also of a genre much under represented in documentaries: a work of critical theory, in this case a sort of Marxist Psychoanalytical approach to history. The movie is one that demands to be watched over and over again, and inspires one to do research outside of the text to discover more; it also encapsulates and maps our psychoscape and history in a radically fascinating way which may suprise many viewers. It gives a whole new perspective on history and where we are today- and does so in novel, subtle, brilliant ways.

That said, this product is utter garbage. It is a DVR recording, produced by "goodness knows who" (but was probably made in someone's basement). The second disk would not play on my DVD player, on my Playstation 2, or on my mothers DVD player, but, did play on my computer; however, about ten minutes into the fourth episode, the footage stuck and refused to play.

Pretty crummy for $50! This should be selling for about $6. It might be worth it for $6, but not for $50. You can easily find this film on the internet, and you can watch it there for free. I, however, wanted a DVD because I wanted to share this film with other people, namely, on their televisions, not on a computer, so I forked over the loot and got burned bigtime.

I returned the DVD to Amazon and they sent me a "new" copy. This one failed to work as well. I brought it over to a friend's house and watched the first episode on his DVD player, but by the time the second episode began, it stuck and would play no more. It also refused to play on his computer.

If you have massive cash to burn and don't mind gambling with half a C note, are desperate to see this film and don't like watching movies which appear in a box about the size of a postage stamp on your computer, then by all means order this rip off and take a big chance.

Oh, by the way, the quality of the picture is awful. It is blurry and washed out. I found myself at times just listening to the dialogue since the images gave me a headache. It is not just that some of the footage is stock, it is all the footage. The "titles" explaining who the "interviewees" are is also blurred, thus proving it is, overall, just a terrible duplication of the film.

Bottom line= best movie ever- hugest ripoff ever. Whoever is selling this for $50 should be sent to the 20th level of Dante's Inferno where they will be pelted with 10th rate DVR products for all eternity.

Just take a quick glance at some of the other "reviews" here, and you will find that they are mostly BS. Either the reviewer has only reviewed this one film (a real clue that what you are reading is just meant to "promote" this product) or they have a couple others but they are also of similar ripoff products from "successunlimitedpub" (the same people that produced this rippoff product)- meaning, that people are planting "reviews" here which are meant to inflate the "star" ratings on this product, but it is obvious they spent about 2 seconds on it, are reviewing the film and not the product, or they are just plain "faking" reviews, usually planted by employees of successunlimitedpub or their friends.


It is not just a matter of this being a poor, blurry copy of the film. It doesn't play. You have been warned.

For shame...for shame...Purchase at Own Risk!

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Really shoddy product from amazon, December 19, 2007

By	Chris Hopton (Ipswich, Suffolk United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this because I have wanted to watch more of this amazing Curtis documentary. When the "DVD" arrived I couldn't believe the rubbish quality of the video footage. IT is blurry, pixellated and well below DVD standard. In fact it looks like a downloaded MPEG4 file from the "Internet Archive" site converted into MPEG2/VOB format. Although Amazon have produced and marketed this version themselves it is nothing like the standard of the original BBC broadcast. This DVD set is a highly overpriced, disappointing and mediocre product. UK buyers will also get hit for £14 of duties! My advice would be to download the free version from various websites and save your money, or write to the controller of BBC4 and request that they rebroadcast it.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What Amazon is doing is just pure "crime against intellectual property", March 20, 2008

By	Simonkovics Sandor (Hungary) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm seriously considering a lawsuite against Amazon. I bought this copy to make sure I own a legitimate copy of an excellent documentary, and what I received is a cheap illegal copy manufactured and promoted by the largest US online retailer.
I work for a Intellectual Property Protection agency, spending most of my time protecting large US corporations interest in Europe, and here I am, Amazon made me pay $50+$25 for illegal copies (Power of Nighmare, Century of the Self).
Although the documentary is a must see, I would recommend it to everybody, I will make sure that Amazon's illegal busines practices will be noticed and have legal consequences.


Deeply disappointed by this practice. How convinced can I be now, that intellectual property is a property that deserves protection, when the a large US company is doing the same?