America: Freedom to Fascism

Despite lame clip-art graphics and the filmmaker’s strangely mumbled narration, the first half of Aaron Russo’s doc is a fascinating and disturbing attack on the federal income tax. A parade of convincing talking heads—former IRS employees, tax attorneys and a congressman among them—argue that there’s no actual law forcing Americans to file a 1040. If only Russo had stopped there. His second act, a frustratingly unfocused litany of government-conspiracy theories, unfortunately colors the whole production as a generic lefty diatribe. (Opens Fri; Village East.) — Hank Shteamer