PLEASE GO SEE THIS MOVIE!
WOW. Capital Letters? He must be serious! Well amigos, I am.
I saw Why We Fight on Saturday night, and I must say it was one of the most thought provoking and intelligently done films I've seen in a good many years. This may be due in part to the fact that it was a well researched and well executed documentary, but please don't let the "D" word throw you off...
I think that perhaps another reason I'm gushing about this movie so much is the fact that I had no idea what it was about, I was just dragged along to see it, and I'm glad I went.
The basic premise of the film is about the Military Industrial Complex in the US, and how since the end of WWII, the US has pretty much maintained a standing army and a ridiculously large military aparatus. It also explores the fact that Capitalism has superceeded Democracy in the US, and that no longer do the elected representatives of Congress have the ability to make decisions. They are handcuffed by the fact that Corporations like Haliburton, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and so forth now hold so much influence over the government because they are the companies that build the instruments of war. Since war is such a good and profitable business now, there is no way in hell that it will ever stop, and some companies have gone so far as to ensure that parts of all their airplanes/tanks/etc are manufactured in all 50 different states, so that even if a Congressman wanted to stop supporting the war machine, it would be politically career-ending, since no one would vote for the guy who closed the plant that lost you 500 jobs in your state.
The other theme that comes across is that "independent" think-tanks are now responsible for drafting policy in the government and even in the Pentagon. People with no real military knowledge, or political knowledge perse, just smarty-pantses coming up with ideas in a bubble.
Not that I ever thought the US government functioned well, but that is even more scary.
The other interesting thing about the film is that it is very careful to show that historically this is something that at least 2 very popular and well-respected Presidents had warned of. Coincidentally, both George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower warned of the dangers ahead to the US if they were to stop being vigilant against armament, and both did so at the only time when they could not be silenced...in their farewell adresses to the nation. Washington warned of the danger of creating a standing army, and therefore becoming like the British, whose control they had just removed themselves from. Eisenhower was even more blunt, saying that if it was not checked, the escalation of the arms race would degenerate the quality of living for all and that someday when a president with no military knowledge (hmm...remind you of anyone?) was in charge, catastrophe would prevail. Eisenhower even went so far as to equate the costs of tanks and planes and guns into something very tangible for Americans: for every tank built, say goodbye to one hospital for 1000 people, for every airplane say goodbye to 25 schools in a large city, etc etc.
So before I bore you or come across as a polysci/military history paper, let me just urge you all to go see this. If you're hesitant due to the Michael Moore effect on documentaries, don't worry, there's no sensationalism or pandering to trickery or other sometimes debatable Moore filmmaking tactics. Why we Fight is pretty much the University Educated version of Farenheit 9/11's high school dropout version.
I saw Why We Fight on Saturday night, and I must say it was one of the most thought provoking and intelligently done films I've seen in a good many years. This may be due in part to the fact that it was a well researched and well executed documentary, but please don't let the "D" word throw you off...
I think that perhaps another reason I'm gushing about this movie so much is the fact that I had no idea what it was about, I was just dragged along to see it, and I'm glad I went.
The basic premise of the film is about the Military Industrial Complex in the US, and how since the end of WWII, the US has pretty much maintained a standing army and a ridiculously large military aparatus. It also explores the fact that Capitalism has superceeded Democracy in the US, and that no longer do the elected representatives of Congress have the ability to make decisions. They are handcuffed by the fact that Corporations like Haliburton, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and so forth now hold so much influence over the government because they are the companies that build the instruments of war. Since war is such a good and profitable business now, there is no way in hell that it will ever stop, and some companies have gone so far as to ensure that parts of all their airplanes/tanks/etc are manufactured in all 50 different states, so that even if a Congressman wanted to stop supporting the war machine, it would be politically career-ending, since no one would vote for the guy who closed the plant that lost you 500 jobs in your state.
The other theme that comes across is that "independent" think-tanks are now responsible for drafting policy in the government and even in the Pentagon. People with no real military knowledge, or political knowledge perse, just smarty-pantses coming up with ideas in a bubble.
Not that I ever thought the US government functioned well, but that is even more scary.
The other interesting thing about the film is that it is very careful to show that historically this is something that at least 2 very popular and well-respected Presidents had warned of. Coincidentally, both George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower warned of the dangers ahead to the US if they were to stop being vigilant against armament, and both did so at the only time when they could not be silenced...in their farewell adresses to the nation. Washington warned of the danger of creating a standing army, and therefore becoming like the British, whose control they had just removed themselves from. Eisenhower was even more blunt, saying that if it was not checked, the escalation of the arms race would degenerate the quality of living for all and that someday when a president with no military knowledge (hmm...remind you of anyone?) was in charge, catastrophe would prevail. Eisenhower even went so far as to equate the costs of tanks and planes and guns into something very tangible for Americans: for every tank built, say goodbye to one hospital for 1000 people, for every airplane say goodbye to 25 schools in a large city, etc etc.
So before I bore you or come across as a polysci/military history paper, let me just urge you all to go see this. If you're hesitant due to the Michael Moore effect on documentaries, don't worry, there's no sensationalism or pandering to trickery or other sometimes debatable Moore filmmaking tactics. Why we Fight is pretty much the University Educated version of Farenheit 9/11's high school dropout version.
posted by Gavin27 @ 7:55 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home