Adam Curtis doing what Adam Curtis does best.
This 3-part BBC fever dream traces the rise of radical Islam and neoconservatism — with found footage, haunting music, and a narrative voice that makes C-SPAN feel like “The Shining.”
I lov Adam Curtis docs.
Trailer for “The Power of Nightmares”
You Can’t Make This Sh!t Up
- In 1949, Egyptian civil servant Sayyid Qutb visited Greeley, Colorado. After watching teens slow dance to “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” at a church social, he concluded America was a godless, morally bankrupt society that needed spiritual war. That trip planted the seeds of radical Islam.
- Leo Strauss, a professor in Chicago, believed truth should be hidden from the masses. He taught that politicians should unite society with fear, not facts.
- The name “al-Qaeda” didn’t even exist before 1998. Prosecutors essentially invented it for a trial—by paying Osama bin Laden’s associate Jamal al-Fadl to say he was part of a global terror network.
More Highlights from the Doc
- Part 1 (“Baby It’s Cold Outside”) shows how Qutb and Strauss reacted to American culture in similar ways. Both saw it as selfish, soulless, and dangerous.
- Part 2 (“The Phantom Victory”) dives into the 1980s, when both neocons and Islamists worked together in Afghanistan against the Soviets—then turned on each other in the 1990s.
- Part 3 (“The Shadows in the Cave”) explores how the U.S. government built a war machine around a concept—“al-Qaeda”—that was, at the time, barely a real organization. Curtis argues we’ve been chasing shadows ever since.
- Archival footage is razor sharp. Reagan speeches, Bin Laden interviews, Cheney quotes, and rarely-seen Islamist manifestos are cut together like a thriller.
Lesser-Known Details from the Doc
- In the 1980s, both Reagan-era neoconservatives and radical Islamists claimed they alone brought down the Soviet Union. Curtis argues the USSR collapsed from within, but both sides sold their narrative to gain power.
- Qutb’s writings were smuggled out of prison in Egypt, where he was tortured and later hanged. His book “Milestones” became the manifesto for future jihadis.
- Leo Strauss loved westerns like “Gunsmoke” and courtroom dramas like “Perry Mason”. He saw them as modern morality tales with clear heroes and villains. That influenced how neoconservatives framed foreign policy: good vs evil.
- Adam Curtis never appears on screen, but his voiceover and editing style are now cult-famous. He uses haunting music, BBC archives, and slow zooms to make even interviews feel ominous.
Watch “The Power of Nightmares”
This docuseries is not currently available on major streaming platforms. You can watch Part 1 and Part 2 on YouTube for free.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 94/100
- IMDB Rating: 8.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: 98/100 (Users); 88/100 (Critics)
Director’s Note: This is classic Adam Curtis. He’s the British documentary filmmaker behind “The Century of the Self” (my colleague, Rob Kelly, listed that one as #1 in The Top 12 Psychology Documentaries). His signature style is narration-heavy, archive-rich, and structured like a psychological essay.
Release Date: First aired on BBC in October 2004
My Review of “The Power of Nightmares”
The Setup
This is a 3-part BBC docuseries that argues the threat of global terrorism is more myth than fact. It traces how two movements—American neoconservatism and radical Islam—used fear to seize political power by exaggerating threats and selling nightmares instead of dreams.
It’s not a conspiracy theory. It’s a reframe: Curtis shows how ideology, not truth, became the engine of global conflict. From Leo Strauss to Dick Cheney to Sayyid Qutb to Osama bin Laden, the doc weaves them all together in a chilling historical timeline.
Wrap Up
If you want a documentary that explains how we got from the Cold War to the War on Terror…and why fear became the main product of politics…watch this.
Thanks for reading!
Heather Fenty, Guest Writer, Daily Doc