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Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Sony
EAN: 0043396138940
Format: AC-3, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 99
Release Date: June 27, 2006
Running Time: 99 minutes
Sales Rank: 2664
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Grand Jury Prize winner at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival WHY WE FIGHT offers a revealing look at how America has readied itself for battle and what compels us to so frequently wage war around the world. Produced in the midst of the second Iraq War documentary filmmaker Eugene Jarecki's WHY WE FIGHT is an unflinching examination of the forces fueling the American military machine for over half a century and their global consequences. The film opens with President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1961 farewell speech in which he warned Americans of the growing power of the 'military industrial complex.' Expanding upon Eisenhower's warning Jarecki relies on interviews with American soldiers government officials military insiders defense industry personnel congressman scholars ordinary Iraqis and many others to provide personal political and economic analysis of the last 50 years of U.S. military expansion wars and interventions. What emerges is an eye-opening and often chilling portrait of how political corporate and military interests have become progressively entangled through the business of war.System Requirements:Running Time 99 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. Rating: TBD UPC: 043396138940 Manufacturer No: 13894
Amazon.com:
Fans of Oliver Stone's J.F.K. will recognize the opening moments of writer-director Eugene Jarecki's Why We Fight, in which outgoing President Dwight Eisenhower warns of the pernicious and growing influence of what he called the 'military-industrial complex.' But Stone's movie, which uses the same footage, was a work of fiction. While those who disagree with the decidedly leftist point of view in this documentary will probably consider it the product of paranoid liberal fantasy as well, there's enough credible material, much of it supplied by the targets of Jarecki's criticisms, to make Eisenhower look like a prophet and everyone else uneasy about the dark confluence of politics, money, and war that controls the country's fortunes. The message here is that while there may be some who sincerely believe that America's various military engagements (in Iraq, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, and elsewhere) since World War II are the product of our God-given duty to spread freedom and halt the influence of evil ideologies around the world, the real reason we fight is that war is good business. This is hardly a bulletin; anyone who is surprised by allegations that politicians pander to defense contractors, or that Vice President Dick Cheney helped secure huge deals for Halliburton, the company he formerly headed, simply hasn't been paying attention (Politicians lie? How shocking!). In fact, the principal drawback to Jarecki's film is simply that there's nothing particularly revelatory or compelling about it. Only when he takes a personal approach does he go beyond the obvious; the story of a retired New York policeman and former Vietnam veteran whose son died in the World Trade Center, who wanted revenge, but who became seriously disillusioned when Bush admitted that the war in Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, adds some much needed human interest. Still, Why We Fight, which includes a director's audio commentary track and a few other bonus features, serves as a grim reminder that the world's most powerful nation has strayed far from the principles of our founding fathers, a development that does not bode well for America's future. --Sam Graham
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - "You begin to wonder... there's something wrong with the entire system.."
Heartsick. As I should be. As any human being with a shred of humanity left should be. And no one more so than the patriotic American.
"Why We Fight," Oliver Stone's stunning documentary on the real reasons behind the wars in which Americans are and have been involved, is a film every American should view, and more than once. Is war ever the right answer? I will not argue that it is not. There are such times. And there have been wars that I believe we should have fought. Self-defense, yes. In defense of human rights, yes. But, honestly, how many such wars have there been? Few.
Begin with Harry Truman and the order he gave to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. As the documentary points out, it had nothing to do with ending the war or forcing the Japanese to surrender. They had been attempting to surrender for months. Truman gave the order to drop the bomb for the thrill of an explosion, the thrill of power, the thrill of a blood lust. Or perhaps one can just call it ... thrill of imperialism. That deadly explosion was the opening of a door that has never closed again, and it never will. This is now the legacy of Truman, and that day, the day we took off our white hats forever.
Eisenhower predicted in his parting speech from the presidency that we were on the road to building a military-industrial complex. He was right. Most wars since then (and several before then) have been for power, for imperialism, for an arrogance in seeing our way superior to all others, ... Read More
Rating: - Thought provoking
It's not about left or right, because as the movie points out at the outset, both the left and right agree. They like the military-industrial complex. Watch this movie, and marvel at how prescient Eisenhower was in 1961. This movie is high quality, riveting, entertaining, and thought provoking. I will save you the trouble of wondering whether or not to buy it for fear of partisan bias: just buy it and just watch it. This is coming from a guy who voted for Bush in 2004, whose views have shifted, but certainly not in the traditional "left-right" schism. Our aggressive foreign policy and military-industrial complex needs to be seen for what it is. This was not a partisan hack-job that certain other documentary film directors are known for. He allows differing views to be heard, in context, and doesn't shove anything down your throat. If you sincerely desire freedom, as I do, you must have a critical eye toward your own government and the military-industrial complex.
Rating:  - Caution
Thankfully, I borrowed this from a friend. Do not waste your money on this unless, perhaps, you have an affinity for Michael Moore-type garbage. I will not waste my time with an in-depth review. Caveat Emptor.
Rating: - Worth reading
I have been trying to read books that might give some insight into what the candidates are like in the upcoming election. I am convinced both are flawed but McCain is our only choice. The other lacks knowledge and experience and is totally unknown. He made one good speech but has trouble answering questions he should have thought through before entering the contest. Ruby Freeman
Rating:  - Disappointing
I had high hopes for this documentary, because it's thesis is exactly right: as President Eisenhower feared, the United States has been hijacked by a military-industrial complex that has squandered its immense wealth on weapons systems, to the detriment of a good society.
Unfortunately, the film is a disappointing mish-mash of contemporary interviews and historical footage, incoherently told. Lacking a narrarator, who might have lended context and details, the film instead lurches from interview to interview -- a conservative here, a liberal there, and, look, here's Eisenhower's actual granddaughter! -- striving for "balance" but sacrificing intelligence.
I yearned for detail: some documentary evidence of the alliance between government and industry, or a probing look at just one of the multitude of unnecessary weapons systems that the Pentagon has foisted on Congress, or even simply a chart that illustrates how our military spending drawfs our spending on the common good, such as education. Details on the Halliburton scandal, for example, would have been especially compelling and illustrative. These topics are only superficially discussed by those interviewed. There is no real insight. Perhaps fearing that they would bore with too much detail, the filmmakers aim only for effect.
To be sure, the film does have some interesting emotional turns -- primarily a profile of 9/11 victim's father who was duped by President Bush's deceptive attempt to tie Iraq to 9/11. ... Read More
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