Bitter Lake

Bitter Lake (2015) is Adam Curtis' documentary essay, and you can watch online on iFILM. The British filmmaker traces how a decades-old oil bargain between America and Saudi Arabia rippled outward into the war in Afghanistan.

The title points back to a 1945 shipboard meeting near the Great Bitter Lake, where a U.S. president and a Saudi king struck a quiet deal: oil in exchange for looking away as a hard-line strain of Islam spread. Curtis follows that thread through the Cold War, the Soviet invasion, the mujahideen and the Western campaigns of the 2000s, showing how neat good-versus-evil stories kept shattering against Afghan reality. Among the archive faces are Reagan, both Bushes and Texas socialite Joanne Herring.

Made by a BBC insider with open access to the corporation's tape libraries, the film is over two hours of assembled footage with no know-it-all narration, set to an uneasy ambient soundtrack. It rewards anyone ready for a long, meditative montage that hands you the thinking rather than a tidy conclusion. Stream Bitter Lake (2015) online on iFILM.