# The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom (2007)

> A BBC Two essay documentary that uses archive footage of Cold War and post-Cold War leaders to question what freedom has come to mean.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/12978

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 3
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: documentary
- Network: BBC Two
- Cast: Adam Curtis, Yevgeny Kiselyov, Ronald Reagan, Tony Blair, Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin, Margaret Thatcher, Bill Clinton
- TMDB rating: 8.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0979263/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: dense
- Violence: mild
- Tone: cool, intellectual, provocative, sceptical, thoughtful

## Synopsis

The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom (2007) is a British BBC Two documentary miniseries created for BBC Two and presented in three one-hour episodes. Narrated by Adam Curtis, the series builds an essayistic argument out of archive footage of political leaders including Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, alongside interviews with former Soviet figure Yevgeny Kiselyov. Its engine is a sceptical question: individual freedom is the promise modern leaders make and the ideal that has justified wars across the world, yet the freedom it delivers is strange and limited. Each episode layers speeches, news clips and dry, pointed narration to trace how the language of liberty has been turned into a tool of governance. The tone is cool, intellectual and provocative rather than sensational, with a steady rhythm that rewards close attention. Viewers who enjoy the historical argument of The Power of Nightmares or the psychological sweep of The Century of the Self will find the same appetite for connecting political history to ideas. The result is a thought-provoking look at the late twentieth century and its aftermath, set against the cold war's end and the rise of new power structures.

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