"Feed the Beast" could be the subtitle of "Why We Fight," the celebrated recent documentary, just released on DVD, that illustrates how the Military-Industrial Complex has blossomed into Dwight Eisenhower's worst nightmare.
If you build a military/corporate alliance that consumes billions of dollars, you need wars to fight. Otherwise, you can't justify spending all that money on sweetheart contracts to companies like Halliburton and Lockheed. And then, they wouldn't be able to give campaign contributions to elect politicians who start the wars and give out the contracts.
"When war becomes that profitable, you are going to see more of it," says Chalmers Johnson in the documentary.
Why We Fight (DVD)
Directed by Eugene Jarecki
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Description | back to top
Released as the American military continues to make its presence felt in Iraq and across the globe, Eugene Jarecki's (THE TRIALS OF HENRY KISSINGER) WHY WE FIGHT asks some pertinent questions about the economic necessities of war. Speaking to a number of key figures including Republican Senator John McCain and author Gore Vidal, as well as lesser-know names such as Wilton Sekzer--a Vietnam veteran and ex-New York City cop who lost his son in the World Trade Center attacks--Jarecki's film is a bipartisan treatise that was inspired by Dwight Eisenhower�s 1961 farewell address to the nation. Eisenhower spoke of a burgeoning American military-industrial complex, which he believed would threaten democracy across the globe. Jarecki takes a look at whether this has occurred by questioning his subjects on the links between big business and the military, while also talking to people whose lives are inexorably tied to the business of war. Fascinating revelations unfold, from Sekzer's attempt to pay tribute to his son to the thoughts of the fighter pilot who dropped the first bomb on Iraq at the dawn of the second Gulf War. Each of them gives their own unique take on the American military machine, while Jarecki intersperses their discussions with rapid-fire scenes of the machine as it lumbers into action.
WHY WE FIGHT cleverly reflects the sharp divide that exists among the American people on why we are in Iraq. A number of people on the street are questioned throughout the film, with Jarecki asking them "why do we fight?" His subjects give a broad range of answers, and Jarecki himself does not search for a definitive solution to the question. Instead he simply gives us a variety of truths and lets the audience try to salvage something from an incredibly complex, sometimes mysterious, and often terrifying state of affairs.
Other Reviews | back to top
"A dense and absorbing critique of American militarism."
-- New York Times
"An even-handed interrogation of war's financial implications."
-- The Dallas Morning News
"... a sobering history lesson as well as a political polemic on foreign policy and the growth of war into America's biggest business."
Click for Full Review
-- Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"A somber polemic that presents a convincing case against using war as an economic booster -- although, Jarecki argues, that is precisely what the United States has been doing under every president since Truman."
-- San Francisco Chronicle
"It's thoughtful, and you have to take it seriously and with respect."
-- USA Today
"Whichever truth you hold to be self-evident, Why We Fight will encourage you to reassess your beliefs and reconsider the meaning of national security."
-- Minneapolis Star Tribune
"...the movie everybody wanted Fahrenheit 9/11 to be. "
-- Philadelphia Weekly
"The best documentary about militarism and America's political reach that I've seen, just edging out the 1972 Vietnam documentary Winter Soldier."
-- FilmCritic.com
Details | back to top
Featuring: Joseph Cirincione, Gwynne Dyer, John S.D. Eisenhower, Susan Eisenhower, Donna Ellington, and more
Directors: Eugene Jarecki
Format: AC-3, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating PG-13
Studio: Sony Pictures
DVD Release Date: June 27, 2006
Run Time: 98 minutes
ASIN: B000FBH3W2
DVD Features:
* Available Subtitles: Spanish, French, Portuguese
* Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
* Commentary by: Filmmaker and Colonel Lawrence WilkersonUnknown Format
* Extra scenes
* Extended character featurettes
* Filmmaker TV appearances: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Charlie Rose
* Audience Q&A with filmmaker
* Commentary with Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson
* Theatrical trailer
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