Why We Fight

Why We Fight
by Eugene Jarecki

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DVD details

Actor: Gore Vidal, John Ashcroft, John McCain, Ken Adelman, Osama Bin Laden
Director: Eugene Jarecki
Brand: Unknown
Producer: Eugene Jarecki
Writer: Eugene Jarecki
Producer: Alessandra Meyer
Producer: Hans Robert Eisenhauer
Producer: Julie Fischer
Producer: Mette Hoffman Meyer
Producer: Nick Fraser
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: Arabic (Original Language); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-06-27
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures

DVD Reviews of Why We Fight

DVD Review: Poignant Film
Summary: 5 Stars

Insightful movie as to how and why we enter all these unnecessary wars. If you're not a fan of history already, compelling evidence that the more you know the more skeptical you will be. The U.S. is seldom the altruistic protector of civil liberties we portray ourselves to be; more often war is financially and politically motived, complete with propoganda financed by the military-industrial complex, and financed by us shills....er...I mean loyal citizens.

DVD Review: Must see documentary!
Summary: 5 Stars

I've seen many documentaries, most of them very well done. However, Why We Fight stands above them all. It is extremely well done and raises engaging concise points of debate. As with many mainstream documentaries, there is a slight bias. But the director has clearly gone out of his way to find compelling interviews with both sides of the argument. I would highly recommend this film whether you are pro or anti war. I'm sure that this movie will be referenced much more often in the future in the ongoing "fight for freedom."

DVD Review: Unethical use of emotion to make an argument
Summary: 2 Stars

When it stuck to data it was compelling. It lost credibility with the personal tales of the guy who lost his son and the female soldier. Yes, there is ample opportunity for greed in military contracting. True, not everyone is ethical. Yes, there are probably motivations which we can only speculate on, and it is frustrating that some real issues are not discussed openly.
But for these two people to either profess or feign their ignorance that these are complicated issues, does not interest me. If your are going to ask me to sit for a presentation, please present ideas that are going to teach us something, not that some average joe was duped. I don't want to hear about them. I feel bad for this guy, but tying his pain into this was a bad way to make a rational argument.
I was filled with dread, when we went into Afghanistan. I was heartbroken when we went into Iran. I was also furious when we went into Serbia, to wag the dog for Clinton.
Listing McCain on it was also very cheap. He is so peripheral to the main theme that it is infuriating to see his name listed. He must be very frustrated over this as he makes only the most general statements which have little to do with the beginning of the film and nothing to do with the end.
Why doesn't somebody make a movie about something worth debating, instead of this conspiracy theory nonsense. Example: Should the U.S. maintain a significant presence in foreign lands for the purposes securing strategic resources, in the presence of unstable governments which lack popular support and freedom for their people? There is something to talk about. Maybe its not sexy enough for Mr. Jareki, but at least it is a tangible and open issue, that nobody can deny exists. Start there!

DVD Review: Failure to Heed Eisenhower's Warning
Summary: 3 Stars

Eugene Jereki's Why We Fight starts with Eisenhower's farewell speech to the nation in 1961 in which he warned Americans to be vigilent concerning the rapid growth of the military-industrial complex. Today he posits that failure to heed the warning has led to the war in Iraq and a return of American imperialism.

While Jereki makes his argument in a cogent manner, my problem with the film is that it does not really say anything new. We have heard these arguments before. Most natably from Michael Moore in recent years. We know that there was double dealing on the part of the military contractors, we know that today's society makes it easier to go to war than it had in the past, we know that Congress has made deals with major corporations for profit what we don't know is how to solve any of these problems. One good thing about the film is that Jereki pushes the idea that a good citizen is an informed citizen and we must all do our parts to stay ever watchful.

I viewed the standard definition disc. The picture and sound quality are quite good as expected for a Sony release. The wealth of special features include extended and deleted scenes, character profiles, an audience Q&A with Jereki, television interviews and an outstanding commentary track featuring Jereki.

DVD Review: Excellent documentary
Summary: 5 Stars

Great movie. I recommend this to anyone and everyone who has any interest in the who's and why's of what has been driving U.S. foreign policy since the beginning of WWII and the direction it's heading.

Description of Why We Fight

Why We Fight is the provocative new documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (The Trials of Henry Kissinger) and winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Named after the series of short films by legendary director Frank Capra that explored America's reasons for entering World War II, Why We Fight surveys a half-century of military conflicts, asking how - and answering why - a nation of, by and for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a government system whose survival depends on an Orwellian state of constant war.

The Why We Fight DVD features interviews and observations by a "who's who" of military and Washington insiders including Senator John McCain, Gore Vidal, and Dan Rather. Beginning with President Dwight D. Eisenhower's prescient 1961 speech warning of the rise of the "military industrial complex," Why We Fight moves far beyond the headlines of various American military operations to the deeper questions of why America seemingly is always at war. What are the forces - political, economic, and ideological - that drive us to clash against an ever-changing enemy? Just why does America fight? Unforgettable, powerful and at times disturbing, Why We Fight on DVD will challenge viewers long after the last fade-out.

Fans of Oliver Stone's J.F.K. will recognize the opening moments of writer-director Eugene Jarecki's Why We Fight, in which outgoing President Dwight Eisenhower warns of the pernicious and growing influence of what he called the "military-industrial complex." But Stone's movie, which uses the same footage, was a work of fiction. While those who disagree with the decidedly leftist point of view in this documentary will probably consider it the product of paranoid liberal fantasy as well, there's enough credible material, much of it supplied by the targets of Jarecki's criticisms, to make Eisenhower look like a prophet and everyone else uneasy about the dark confluence of politics, money, and war that controls the country's fortunes. The message here is that while there may be some who sincerely believe that America's various military engagements (in Iraq, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, and elsewhere) since World War II are the product of our God-given duty to spread freedom and halt the influence of evil ideologies around the world, the real reason we fight is that war is good business. This is hardly a bulletin; anyone who is surprised by allegations that politicians pander to defense contractors, or that Vice President Dick Cheney helped secure huge deals for Halliburton, the company he formerly headed, simply hasn't been paying attention (Politicians lie? How shocking!). In fact, the principal drawback to Jarecki's film is simply that there's nothing particularly revelatory or compelling about it. Only when he takes a personal approach does he go beyond the obvious; the story of a retired New York policeman and former Vietnam veteran whose son died in the World Trade Center, who wanted revenge, but who became seriously disillusioned when Bush admitted that the war in Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, adds some much needed human interest. Still, Why We Fight, which includes a director's audio commentary track and a few other bonus features, serves as a grim reminder that the world's most powerful nation has strayed far from the principles of our founding fathers, a development that does not bode well for America's future. --Sam Graham

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