Why We Fight (2005)

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.

Director:

Eugene Jarecki

Writer:

Eugene Jarecki

Stars:

Gore Vidal, John McCain, Ken Adelman

4 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited 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

Storyline

He may have been the ultimate icon of 1950s conformity and postwar complacency, but Dwight D. Eisenhower was an iconoclast, visionary, and the Cassandra of the New World Order. Upon departing his presidency, Eisenhower issued a stern, cogent warning about the burgeoning "military industrial complex," foretelling with ominous clarity the state of the world in 2004 with its incestuous entanglement of political, corporate, and Defense Department interests.

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Plot Keywords:

political superpower | war crime | war criminal | american imperialism | military industrial complex | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Documentary | History | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for disturbing war images and brief language

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Classics [United States]

Country:

UK France Denmark Canada USA

Language:

English Arabic

Release Date:

January 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dlaczego walczymy

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$53,571, 22 January 2006, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$1,436,279, 14 May 2006

Company Credits

Production Co:

Arte, BBC Storyville, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Narrator: The Unites States bombed Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and three days later they detonated another atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki.
1945 radio commentator: What has been done is the greatest achievement of organized science in history.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Glory Road/Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World/The Three Burials of Melquides Estrada/Bubble/Why We Fight/Tristan & Isolde (2006)

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Soundtracks

(I Want) The Good Life
(uncredited)
Performed by Ernie Maresca

User Reviews

A documentary all Americans should watch

Despite obvious comparison with Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11this is not a gonzo bit of egotistic movie making with a big cuddly shambolic star doing stunts. This is a serious piece of research and reporting of the highest standard. Instead of the meaningless Bushite mantra of 'freedom; freedom; freedom' it pinpoints the historical dimension of the Iraq war and the ideological manipulation and monetary and political interests of the military industrial complex that has landed USA into the hand of crypto Fascists who hide the truth from the people who instead are fed 'bread and circuses' by the culture industry. However Jarecki includes key neocons like Richard Perle and great clips of Rumsfeld schmoozing with Saddam Hussein – our ally against Iran to whom US sold his wmd. Jarecki also includes a fascinating story of a Vietnam vet who backs the war because it was against Al Qaidia but falls apart as he watches Bush shuffle sheepishly away from that. It was been premièred at the Sundance film festival where it won the Grand Jury prize for documentary. But I doubt any of the US mass media which colludes with the military industrial complex as part of the 'national security state' will allow it to be shown. But we have had it shown In British TV.