I enjoyed this documentary and have been looking for it on DVD for a few years.
While I agree with some of the criticisms leveled against the choices that ended up on the list, the documentary does draw the conclusion that the past millennium was about the rise of the West. If that conclusion is accepted, one would not expect non-Western leaders to figure prominently on a list of the 100 most influential people of the prior millennium. Having said that, I believe that Deng Xiaoping of China should have made the list. By reversing the disastrous policies of Mao, brutally suppressing the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, and gingerly opening China to the world, he exercised a great deal of influence (for good or ill) over the lives of 1/4 of the world's population.
While I agree with some of the criticisms leveled against the choices that ended up on the list, the documentary does draw the conclusion that the past millennium was about the rise of the West. If that conclusion is accepted, one would not expect non-Western leaders to figure prominently on a list of the 100 most influential people of the prior millennium. Having said that, I believe that Deng Xiaoping of China should have made the list. By reversing the disastrous policies of Mao, brutally suppressing the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, and gingerly opening China to the world, he exercised a great deal of influence (for good or ill) over the lives of 1/4 of the world's population.