A heist-movie mood propels this rigorous doc about the role of an obscure bank in a US plan to undermine Catalan separatism
The subject of Eric Merola’s film at first seems small: how a private bank in the tiny mountain nation of Andorra found itself at the centre of a conspiracy. But its real interests are wide-reaching: the tactics used by the US government to disrupt Catalonia’s independence movement, and the modern face of American interventionism.
The hustle hinges on the murky section 311, a provision in the US Patriot Act that grants the Treasury Department sweeping powers in relation to any bank in the world, under the guise of protecting the world’s financial system. In 2015, the provision was used against Banca Privada d’Andorra (Bpa) on the grounds that it was being used to launder hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of criminal gangs in Russia,...
The subject of Eric Merola’s film at first seems small: how a private bank in the tiny mountain nation of Andorra found itself at the centre of a conspiracy. But its real interests are wide-reaching: the tactics used by the US government to disrupt Catalonia’s independence movement, and the modern face of American interventionism.
The hustle hinges on the murky section 311, a provision in the US Patriot Act that grants the Treasury Department sweeping powers in relation to any bank in the world, under the guise of protecting the world’s financial system. In 2015, the provision was used against Banca Privada d’Andorra (Bpa) on the grounds that it was being used to launder hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of criminal gangs in Russia,...
- 9/3/2020
- by Alex Mistlin
- The Guardian - Film News
"An act of crime committed in the name of nationalism." The official trailer has released for a fascinating, eye-opening documentary titled The Andorra Hustle, from doc filmmaker Eric Merola. If you have never heard of the country of Andorra... you will now. Andorra is a very small country located in Europe nestled between France and Spain in the Pyrenees mountains. The documentary explains how one of the country's banks, known as Bpa, was targeted in outrageous scandals involving Spain's and America's governments. Say what? It's all about fighting against Catalonia's independence movement, which Spain has been trying to quell for years. "Spanish Police were of the opinion that destroying the bank accounts of the Catalonian leadership would help win their war against Catalonia." This looks like a powerful investigative journalism doc that was made under-the-radar to stay out of the focus of the governments who don't want this story to get out.
- 8/5/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Extracted from apricots, peaches, and almonds, Laetrile is one of the most controversial cancer treatments to approach the mainstream. The American Cancer Society's entry on it, which reads as ambivalent to suspicious, concludes, "Relying on this type of treatment alone, and avoiding or delaying conventional medical care for cancer, may have serious health consequences."
In Eric Merola's Second Opinion: Laetrile at Sloan-Kettering, the question of the drug's efficacy takes a backseat to the story of whistle-blower Ralph Moss, a science writer at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, who exposed the organization's attempt to squash promising research on the drug in the mid-1970s.
Like many docs with activist undertones, Second Opinion tells a potentially...
In Eric Merola's Second Opinion: Laetrile at Sloan-Kettering, the question of the drug's efficacy takes a backseat to the story of whistle-blower Ralph Moss, a science writer at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, who exposed the organization's attempt to squash promising research on the drug in the mid-1970s.
Like many docs with activist undertones, Second Opinion tells a potentially...
- 8/27/2014
- Village Voice
Aside from “Burzynski,” writer-director Eric Merola’s one other film credit is a short sequence in Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story.” Apparently, he learned little from the experience. However one views his politics or tactics, Moore demands attention. As dramatic as his subject matter may be, Merola does not.
Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski says he has identified a genetic mechanism for curing cancer. Compelling anecdotal evidence – in the form of moving interviews with emotional patients – supports his claim. But the Texas Medical Board and the Food and Drug Administration aren’t convinced and have been dragging him through court for 14 years to shut down his Houston practice. A third-act revelation posits a conspiratorial reason why.
Determined to back up Burzynski’s case, Merola has tracked down all matter of supporting evidence, including medical records, court papers, clinical trials, patent applications and transcripts from which a narrator reads highlighted passages...
Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski says he has identified a genetic mechanism for curing cancer. Compelling anecdotal evidence – in the form of moving interviews with emotional patients – supports his claim. But the Texas Medical Board and the Food and Drug Administration aren’t convinced and have been dragging him through court for 14 years to shut down his Houston practice. A third-act revelation posits a conspiratorial reason why.
Determined to back up Burzynski’s case, Merola has tracked down all matter of supporting evidence, including medical records, court papers, clinical trials, patent applications and transcripts from which a narrator reads highlighted passages...
- 6/2/2010
- Moving Pictures Magazine
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