Why We Fight (2005)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Eugene Jarecki

Writer:

Eugene Jarecki (written by)

Genre:

Documentary | History | War

Tagline:

It is nowhere written that the American empire goes on forever.

Plot:

Is American foreign policy dominated by the idea of military supremacy? Has the military become too important in American life? Jarecki's shrewd and intelligent polemic would seem to give an affirmative answer to each of these questions.

Plot Keywords:

Dwight D. Eisenhower | Military Industrial Complex | American Foreign Policy | U.S. President | Bill Clinton

Awards:

4 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Ken Adelman	...	Himself
John Ashcroft	...	Himself (archive footage)
Osama Bin Laden	...	Himself (archive footage)
George Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
George W. Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
Robert Byrd	...	Himself (archive footage)
Frank Capra	...	Himself (archive footage)
Dick Cheney	...	Himself (archive footage)
Joseph Cirincione	...	Himself
Bill Clinton	...	Himself (archive footage)
Anh Duong	...	Herself
Gwynne Dyer	...	Himself
Dwight D. Eisenhower	...	Himself (archive footage)
John S.D. Eisenhower	...	Himself
Susan Eisenhower	...	Herself
Donna Ellington	...	Herself
Dennis Hastert	...	Himself (archive footage)
Saddam Hussein	...	Himself (archive footage)
Chalmers Johnson	...	Himself
Lyndon Johnson	...	Himself (archive footage)
John F. Kennedy	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ayatollah Khomeini	...	Himself (archive footage)
William Kristol	...	Himself
Karen Kwiatkowski	...	Herself
Charles Lewis	...	Himself
John McCain	...	Himself
Richard Nixon	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bill O'Reilly	...	Himself (archive footage)
Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi	...	Himself (archive footage)
Richard Perle	...	Himself
Colin Powell	...	Himself (archive footage)
Dan Rather	...	Himself
Ronald Reagan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Condoleezza Rice	...	Herself (archive footage)
James G. Roche	...	Himself
Donald Rumsfeld	...	Himself (archive footage)
Tim Russert	...	Himself (archive footage)
Wally Saeger	...	Himself
Wilton Sekzer	...	Himself
Naj Sheesan	...	Himself
William Solomon	...	Himself
Franklin Spinney	...	Himself
Joseph Stalin	...	Himself (archive footage)
Richard Treadway	...	Himself (as Col. Rich Treadway)
Harry S. Truman	...	Himself (archive footage)
Michael Valentine	...	Himself
Gore Vidal	...	Himself
Paul Wolfowitz	...	Himself (archive footage)

Also Known As:

Le Nerf de la guerre (France) (TV title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for disturbing war images and brief language.

Runtime:

Norway:55 min | USA:98 min | Argentina:99 min

Country:

USA | France | UK | Canada | Denmark

Language:

English | Arabic

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Argentina:13 | Australia:M

Company:

Arte

Quotes:

Karen Kwiatkowski: I have two sons and I will allow none of my children to serve in the United States Military. If you join the military now you are not defending the United States of America, you are helping certain policy makers pursue an imperial agenda.

Movie Connections:

Features "Meet the Press" (1947)

Soundtrack:

I Fought In A War

More successful than Fahrenheit 911

This is truly a remarkable film. In its subtlety, and its poetry it outshines "..9/11". While Moore's film remains an extraordinary piece of work - the criticisms could be spun by the right as a 'liberal rant' - largely due to Moore's obvious, and justified frustration.

Why we Fight presents a lyrical and devastatingly haunting portrait of a system that has failed the west - specifically America - time and time again in a repeating cycle. The narrative carefully builds an historical context for the present administration's actions, and unfolds a story of how Americans, even the most staunch supporters of Bush's policies, have gradually learnt that they've been lied to, lied about and then lied to again as the administration is called on to answer for their lies.

With extraordinary research, and some incredible interview contributors, the facts are again repeated - indeed, they gain, perhaps even greater impact because of the historical context - and the warnings of past leaders.

It is above all a film which at once makes you terribly sad - and frustrated. But the surprise - for me at least - was that my anger became levelled not so much at the arrogance of our governments, and those in the positions of power - but at the stupefying inaction of the voting public.

I need only direct you to another of the 'reviews' of this film to underline just how poisoned the populous is, and just how stupid people have allowed themselves to become.

-------- The director spoke at Sundance about how he consciously prevented this breathtaking documentary from being screened before the election in 04 - largely because he felt the message of the film is not partisan, and not about a particular administration - but it is about the system. My only frustration about this is that I can only imagine what the snowballing effects of this film might have been had it been allowed to swiftly follow 'Fahrenheit 911'.