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Review #51 of 365
Film: Why We Fight [PG-13] 99 minutes
WIP: $12.00
When 1st Seen: 2 March 2006
Where Viewed: United Artists Village 4, Boulder, CO
Time: 10:05 p.m.
Official Web Site: Why We Fight
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DVD |
Written and Directed by Eugene Jarecki the documentary, Why We Fight, is the perfect companion to Fahrenheit 9-11. Back when Fahrenheit 9-11 was released, it was met with all sorts of skepticism from a yet to be completely disillusioned populace. In fact, that populace then set about subsequently re-electing the current president. Now that some time has passed, it is easy to forget the groundwork that was completed by Michael Moore which makes Mr. Jarecki’s film all the more potent. According to the film’s web site, “Why We Fight is a presentation of the Eisenhower Project, a national academic initiative dedicated in the spirit of Dwight D. Eisenhower to promote study of the forces shaping American foreign and defense policy.” The film begins with footage of the former President giving his farewell address where he charges the citizens of the nation to be wary of the “military industrial complex”—a term he coined—and the potential for non-elected persons gaining unchecked power and control over the nation, its foreign policy, and the future. Most striking, I thought was the reminder provided that our nation founded and governed by the Constitution was expressly written to prevent any one person (leader, ruler, king, dictator, etc.) from taking the nation to war. This, in fact, was one of the very core and principle differences between the United States of America and most any other previous nation state. Only the Congress, a body of elected representatives of the people, could actually vote to declare war; and, yet, the Congress of 2003 voted (not unanimously by the way) to give the current president the authority to declare war on Iraq and to use any and all means including nuclear weapons to end the alleged threat of the Saddam Hussein-led Iraqi government. Why would the Congress give up its right to declare war on a foreign government? That is a question for that Congress to answer especially now in light of the circumstances of the war in Iraq and how little if any of the information given to the citizens whom they represent and whose opinions they supposedly reflect has proven to be accurate. In any case, the purpose of the film is not about pointing fingers or casting blame on the current administration. In fact, quite the opposite. The film correctly points out that there has not been a president since Eisenhower’s administration that hasn’t take the nation to war or been involved in war in some way. The film reminds us all to powerfully of the many wars or troop movements that the USA has been involved with since WWII ended and the government decided that the USA needed a permanent standing army. The film actually, more than the politicians, sets out to prove Eisenhower’s point that because we citizens were not mindful of what was happening nor were we holding our representatives accountable, the military industrial complex has grown to a point where it consumes more of our annual national budget than all other discretionary spending lines of the budget added together. And, like it or not, millions of American workers make their living off this enterprise. Sure, there are constant scandals of over charges and mismanagement, yet, still, the bottom line is that the government spending on defense keeps a lot of people gainfully employed. This is not to say, however, that were all the money instead shifted to pay for, I don’t know, how about education?, there would not be just as many jobs, they would just be different, possibly more meaningful, jobs. The military has become so savvy that they spent over a billion dollars last year advertising the benefits they bring to the nation and the young men and women of the armed forces. They have learned how to control the information that flows out to the public, so, for example, we have seen few if any of the body bags of the over 2,000 men and women in the US Armed Services that have been killed in the line of duty coming home. This was not so in the Vietnam war where this was featured on the nightly news every day. This has helped to keep the citizens quiet for what we don’t see every day on television we don’t believe. In any case, this documentary takes on some very hard questions and tries to answer them. There is no one reason why we fight, however, it certainly doesn’t hurt that a lot of people make a lot of money off the fighting. This is a very important documentary regardless of a person’s political leanings. Be you democrat or republican, this film is not about partisan politics, it is about surrendering our freedoms and liberties as citizens of the USA and the world to the interests of the military industrial complex. It isn’t clear that the majority of citizens in the USA would vote to do so were they given a chance. As a documentary, the film is very powerful, interspersed with interviews of relatives of President Eisenhower and other interviews and stories of people impacted by the current governmental landscape. My only qualm with the film was that it is edited together in a fashion that does not permit, necessarily, a logical flow of ideas and conclusions. This does make for a more challenging trail to follow before conclusions can be drawn. In any case, I feel the film is an incredibly important work, and I wish that every citizen of the USA would see it and take home the most important message of all from the film, we must stay informed and we must let our elected officials know how we feel about what is going on and how they should vote to represent us. We have two options: write, email, and telephone them regularly with our opinions, and vote them in or out of office if they fail to represent us accurately. We have no one to blame, in the end, but ourselves, if we do not vote, do not keep up on the issues, and cannot find the time each month to let our congress people at both the state and national levels hear our voices.
Now Available for Purchase on DVD
Why We Fight [DVD] (2005) DVD
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