User Reviews

United States foreign policy can appear incredibly sinister when examined in the cold light of day. On the Micronesian island of Palau, an erstwhile tropical paradise placed under U.S. trusteeship after World War II, American military interests are protected by an often mind-boggling combination of economic dependency, political propaganda, and a program of indoctrination totally at odds with any concept of democracy or freedom. Thrust headlong and unprepared into the twentieth century, the pragmatic islanders responded by ratifying a constitution declaring Palau a nuclear-free zone, which of course virtually outlawed the U.S. Navy from its waters. Certain members of Congress have, understandably, vilified this award-winning documentary, most likely because it's almost impossible to ignore such a straightforward and matter-of-fact exposure of some very bitter facts. At the time the film was released U.S.-Palau relations were still mired in hopeless diplomacy, with the struggle for control of the tiny island nation lurching from one legal impasse to another.