Official Movie Website Theatrical Release 01/20/06 (LA&NY) Home Video Not Available MPAA Rating Rated PG-13 for disturbing war images and brief language Running Time 1 hour 38 minutes Genre Documentary Director Eugene Jarecki Cast Graydon Carter, John S.D. Eisenhower, Chalmers Johnson, William Kristol, John McCain, Richard Perle, James G. Roche, Gore Vidal Studio Sony Pictures Classics |
WHY WE FIGHT
SYNOPSIS
WHY WE FIGHT, the new film by Eugene Jarecki
which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005
Sundance Film Festival, is an unflinching look at the
anatomy of the American war machine, weaving
unforgettable personal stories with commentary by
a “who’s who” of military and beltway insiders.
Featuring John McCain, William Kristol, Chalmers
Johnson, Gore Vidal, Richard Perle and others, WHY
WE FIGHT launches a bipartisan inquiry into the
workings of the military industrial complex and the
rise of the American Empire.
Inspired by Dwight Eisenhower’s legendary farewell
speech (in which he coined the phrase “military
industrial complex”), filmmaker Jarecki (THE
TRIALS OF HENRY KISSINGER) surveys the scorched
landscape of a half-century’s military adventures,
asking how – and telling why – a nation of, by, and
for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a
system whose survival depends on a state of
constant war.
WHY WE FIGHT, the new film by Eugene Jarecki
which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005
Sundance Film Festival, is an unflinching look at the
anatomy of the American war machine, weaving
unforgettable personal stories with commentary by
a “who’s who” of military and beltway insiders.
Featuring John McCain, William Kristol, Chalmers
Johnson, Gore Vidal, Richard Perle and others, WHY
WE FIGHT launches a bipartisan inquiry into the
workings of the military industrial complex and the
rise of the American Empire.
Inspired by Dwight Eisenhower’s legendary farewell
speech (in which he coined the phrase “military
industrial complex”), filmmaker Jarecki (THE
TRIALS OF HENRY KISSINGER) surveys the scorched
landscape of a half-century’s military adventures,
asking how – and telling why – a nation of, by, and
for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a
system whose survival depends on a state of
constant war.
The film moves beyond the headlines of various American military operations to the deeper questions of
why – why does America fight? What are the forces – political, economic, ideological – that drive us to
fight against an ever-changing enemy?
“Frank Capra made a series of films during World War II called WHY WE FIGHT that explored America’s
reasons for entering the war,” Jarecki notes. “Today, with our troops engaged in Iraq and elsewhere
for reasons far less clear, I think it’s crucial to ask the questions: ‘Why are we doing what we are
doing? What is it doing to others? And what is it doing to us?’
--© Sony Pictures Classics
why – why does America fight? What are the forces – political, economic, ideological – that drive us to
fight against an ever-changing enemy?
“Frank Capra made a series of films during World War II called WHY WE FIGHT that explored America’s
reasons for entering the war,” Jarecki notes. “Today, with our troops engaged in Iraq and elsewhere
for reasons far less clear, I think it’s crucial to ask the questions: ‘Why are we doing what we are
doing? What is it doing to others? And what is it doing to us?’
--© Sony Pictures Classics
© 2003 St. Louis Movie Review Weekly. All rights reserved, except where indicated.
All movie titles, pictures, etc...are the property of their respective studios.
All movie titles, pictures, etc...are the property of their respective studios.
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