Run time: 03:37
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwNjyiCnp3w
Posted on YouTube: May 18, 2010
By YouTube Member: RATMVideosHD
Views on YouTube: 25224
Posted on DU: April 28, 2011
By DU Member: HolyCity2012
Views on DU: 231 |
Directed by Michael Moore, "Testify" features clips showing the two presidential candidates at the time (George W. Bush and Al Gore for the 2000 US Presidential Election) stating the same policies and views on important issues, and the video aims to highlight the lack of choice in the US electoral system. The images of Bush and Gore are morphed together, thereby creating a "mutant" that "appears as two but speaks as one."
Other key themes in the video focus on America's reliance on oil, with several clips of the Gulf War, and lines at gas pumps accompanied by the lines "Mass graves for the pump and the price is set." Other clips display modern industrialization and the military industrial complex, juxtaposed against images of third world nations.
Other organizations, topics, and individuals displayed in the video include: Exxon, same sex relationships, Richard Nixon, Kenneth Starr, Bill Clinton, Oliver North, Monica Lewinsky, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Pope John Paul II, General Norman Schwarzkopf, the Christian Coalition, monster truck rallys, the Republican Revolution, and the corporate donations that each candidate has received.
The similarities between the two candidates are displayed through soundbites of their speeches. Among the topics that George W. Bush and Al Gore agree on, as shown in the video: support of the death penalty, prosperity through free trade, investing in the future, support of clean air, and a ban on soft money. Each candidate concludes by stating "God Bless America."
The video ends with a quote from Ralph Nader: "If you're not turned onto politics, politics will turn on you."
__________
The movie ran through me
The glamour subdued me
The tabloid untied me
I'm empty please fill me
Mister anchor assure me
That Baghdad is burning
Your voice it is so soothing
That cunning mantra of killing
I need you my witness
To dress this up so bloodless
To numb me and purge me now
Of thoughts of blaming you
Yes the car is our wheelchair
My witness your coughing
Oily silence mocks the legless boys
Who travel now in coffins
On the corner
The jury's sleepless
We found your weakness
And it's right outside your door
Now testify
Now testify
It's right outside your door
Now testify
Yes testify
Its right outside your door
With precision you feed me
My witness I'm hungry
Your temple it calms me
So I can carry on
My slaving sweating the skin right off my bones
On a bed of fire I'm choking on the smoke that fills my home
The wrecking ball is rushing
Witness your blushing
The pipeline is gushing
While here we lie in tombs
While on the corner
The jury's sleepless
We found your weakness
And it's right outside your door
Now testify
Yeah testify
It's right outside your door
Now testify
Now testify
It's right outside your door
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set
And the price is set
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set
And the price is set
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set
And the price is set
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set
And the price is set
Who controls the past now controls the future
Who controls the present now controls the past
Who controls the past now controls the future
Who controls the present now?
Now testify
Testify
It's right outside your door
Now testify
Testify
It's right outside your door