list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Why We Fight on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Why_We_Fight/256851/default.aspx Title: Why We Fight
Year: 2006
Director: Eugene Jarecki
Plot: In 1961, as Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his final address to the nation before leaving the office of President of the United States, he warned that America "must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence...by the military-industrial complex." Nearly 45 years later, as the United States finds itself waging a war in Iraq for reasons that seem increasingly unclear with the passage of time, Eisenhower's statement becomes all the more pertinent, and the question becomes more apt: has the machinery the United States established to wage war helped prevent conflict, or has it done more to inspire it? Documentary filmmaker Eugene Jarecki offers an in-depth look at how the United States has readied itself for battle, and why and how the nation goes to war in the film Why We Fight. Named for Frank Capra's famed series of Defense Department films (which explained the motives behind America's entry into World War II), Why We Fight features interviews with foot soldiers, Army recruits, Pentagon personnel, decorated veterans, members of Congress, national security advisors, top military strategists, and many more as they talks about the core philosophies of American military strategy and how they have changed since the end of the Second World War. Why We Fight received the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 24
Number of Lists: 7
Number of blog posts: 5
Number of discussion threads: 3
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:03:13 GMTWhy We Fight2006Eugene JareckiIn 1961, as Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his final address to the nation before leaving the office of President of the United States, he warned that America "must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence...by the military-industrial complex." Nearly 45 years later, as the United States finds itself waging a war in Iraq for reasons that seem increasingly unclear with the passage of time, Eisenhower's statement becomes all the more pertinent, and the question becomes more apt: has the machinery the United States established to wage war helped prevent conflict, or has it done more to inspire it? Documentary filmmaker Eugene Jarecki offers an in-depth look at how the United States has readied itself for battle, and why and how the nation goes to war in the film Why We Fight. Named for <a href="/players/P____84082/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Frank Capra</a>'s famed series of Defense Department films (which explained the motives behind America's entry into World War II), Why We Fight features interviews with foot soldiers, Army recruits, Pentagon personnel, decorated veterans, members of Congress, national security advisors, top military strategists, and many more as they talks about the core philosophies of American military strategy and how they have changed since the end of the Second World War. Why We Fight received the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide24Tag Target (>10)7533http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t79701w1p8h.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Why_We_Fight/256851/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/groups/Community_Recommendations/Re_The_Way_We_Were/643/38756/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: csprague
Post To: Community Recommendations
Post Date: 12/23/2008 10:51:34 AM
Body: [quote user="rjsprague"] I just read an interesting article on Newsweek entitled The Way We Were. It begins: "If artists depend on angst and unrest to fuel their creative fire, then at least in one sense the 43rd presidency has been a blessing." That's probably true, and I wanted everyone to give an example of a film that was created in the past eight that exemplifies the era of our 43rd president. I would like to recommend: Why We Fight I feel that this documentary, while obviously biased, provides insight into the current era because docs were ridiculously popular, and because it provided me with parallels to help me understand what we were engaging in. It represents the speed with which we are able to "look back" at the direction our nation is headed, which is obviously significantly faster than ever before. [/quote] No End In Sight Although, now that we've got Barak coming into the White House, it looks like there might be an end in sight, or at least a plan for what we are doing and why.
]]>Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:51:34 GMTcspragueCommunity Recommendations12/23/2008 10:51:34 AM[quote user="rjsprague"] I just read an interesting article on Newsweek entitled The Way We Were. It begins: "If artists depend on angst and unrest to fuel their creative fire, then at least in one sense the 43rd presidency has been a blessing." That's probably true, and I wanted everyone to give an example of a film that was created in the past eight that exemplifies the era of our 43rd president. I would like to recommend: Why We Fight I feel that this documentary, while obviously biased, provides insight into the current era because docs were ridiculously popular, and because it provided me with parallels to help me understand what we were engaging in. It represents the speed with which we are able to "look back" at the direction our nation is headed, which is obviously significantly faster than ever before. [/quote] No End In Sight Although, now that we've got Barak coming into the White House, it looks like there might be an end in sight, or at least a plan for what we are doing and why. http://www.spout.com/groups/Community_Recommendations/The_Way_We_Were/643/38709/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: rjsprague
Post To: Community Recommendations
Post Date: 12/22/2008 12:41:57 PM
Body: I just read an interesting article on Newsweek entitled The Way We Were. It begins: "If artists depend on angst and unrest to fuel their creative fire, then at least in one sense the 43rd presidency has been a blessing." That's probably true, and I wanted everyone to give an example of a film that was created in the past eight that exemplifies the era of our 43rd president. I would like to recommend: Why We Fight I feel that this documentary, while obviously biased, provides insight into the current era because docs were ridiculously popular, and because it provided me with parallels to help me understand what we were engaging in. It represents the speed with which we are able to "look back" at the direction our nation is headed, which is obviously significantly faster than ever before.
]]>Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:41:57 GMTrjspragueCommunity Recommendations12/22/2008 12:41:57 PMI just read an interesting article on Newsweek entitled The Way We Were. It begins: "If artists depend on angst and unrest to fuel their creative fire, then at least in one sense the 43rd presidency has been a blessing." That's probably true, and I wanted everyone to give an example of a film that was created in the past eight that exemplifies the era of our 43rd president. I would like to recommend: Why We Fight I feel that this documentary, while obviously biased, provides insight into the current era because docs were ridiculously popular, and because it provided me with parallels to help me understand what we were engaging in. It represents the speed with which we are able to "look back" at the direction our nation is headed, which is obviously significantly faster than ever before. http://www.spout.com/groups/Top_5/Re_Top_5_Iraq_War_Movies_That_Overcome_Iraq_Fatigu/190/36629/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: jmcnally
Post To: Top 5
Post Date: 10/23/2008 5:02:26 PM
Body: Just off the top of my head, though this could change tomorrow... Dr. Strangelove M*A*S*H No End in Sight Why We Fight 3 Kings
]]>Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:02:26 GMTjmcnallyTop 510/23/2008 5:02:26 PMJust off the top of my head, though this could change tomorrow... Dr. Strangelove M*A*S*H No End in Sight Why We Fight 3 Kings http://www.spout.com/blogs/chrismorrell/archive/2008/6/19/31437.aspx Post By: chrismorrell
Post To: chrismorrell Blog
Post Date: 6/19/2008 6:51:18 PM
Body: A very well put together documentary this,but,it's like: "tell us something we dont know". I saw the director on "The Daily Show" last year,so put it on my rental list...The director bases his exposition around the "farewell speech" of President Eisenhower, when he identified the "Military (Congressional) Complex"that the USA ("United States of Amnesia" as GoreVidal says) has instigated ,following victory,by the Allies,headed by the U.S. over the Nazis in 1945 , and the assumption of the pre-eminence of the U.S.A among the "Western" powers...The "Cold War" with Russia was to fuel this military/corporate machine through the next three decades... He dropped the reference to The Congress seemingly out of politeness,but it is no mistake that Arms manufacturers spread their production facilities across as many States as possible in order to retain congressional backing. The counterpoint throughout to the regular "history lesson" is the story of a retired New York cop,who,having lost a son in the World Trade Centre attack,at first feels some "closure" by having his son's name put on a bomb that would later fall on Baghdad, he obviously comes to regret this,not fully expressing his shame,but ,as many of us surely do now,feels betrayed,and lied to by his President. I say "many of US",because a glaring omission by the film-maker is to make no mention of British P.M Tony Blair in all this.He was a major facilitator of the war!..Following his instigation of the bombing and invasion of Kosovo,to which the U.S (in true WW 2 style) needed convincing of,and came in late,made several speeches ,pre 2001 ,in which he spoke of further justified "pre-emptive strikes" for the common good. This guy really does like playing God. He read Strauss and Berlin ,and venerated them,i wonder wether Dubya had such an ideological approach? His blue-print then extended from the successful and ultimately justified"humanitarian" intervention against Milosovic in Kosovo, to "Rogue States",like Iraq (number one on the list of course) with "WMD" ,yes that famous ringing endightment of an acronym.He was a major political facilitator of the Iraq War.. Eisenhower's worst nightmare of an administration and congress that just gives the "war machine" whatever it wants,and who's members ,in the extreme case of Dick Cheney,are more or less in the business of Arms procurement has come to pass ."Why We Fight" flags up the skewed priorities of the U.S ,with TRILLIONS being spent on arms,a million dollars a minute..ready to be deployed in the name of Freedom and Democracy..with "Kellog Brown and Root" doing the catering.
]]>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:51:18 GMTchrismorrellchrismorrell Blog6/19/2008 6:51:18 PM A very well put together documentary this,but,it's like: "tell us something we dont know". I saw the director on "The Daily Show" last year,so put it on my rental list...The director bases his exposition around the "farewell speech" of President Eisenhower, when he identified the "Military (Congressional) Complex"that the USA ("United States of Amnesia" as GoreVidal says) has instigated ,following victory,by the Allies,headed by the U.S. over the Nazis in 1945 , and the assumption of the pre-eminence of the U.S.A among the "Western" powers...The "Cold War" with Russia was to fuel this military/corporate machine through the next three decades... He dropped the reference to The Congress seemingly out of politeness,but it is no mistake that Arms manufacturers spread their production facilities across as many States as possible in order to retain congressional backing. The counterpoint throughout to the regular "history lesson" is the story of a retired New York cop,who,having lost a son in the World Trade Centre attack,at first feels some "closure" by having his son's name put on a bomb that would later fall on Baghdad, he obviously comes to regret this,not fully expressing his shame,but ,as many of us surely do now,feels betrayed,and lied to by his President. I say "many of US",because a glaring omission by the film-maker is to make no mention of British P.M Tony Blair in all this.He was a major facilitator of the war!..Following his instigation of the bombing and invasion of Kosovo,to which the U.S (in true WW 2 style) needed convincing of,and came in late,made several speeches ,pre 2001 ,in which he spoke of further justified "pre-emptive strikes" for the common good. This guy really does like playing God. He read Strauss and Berlin ,and venerated them,i wonder wether Dubya had such an ideological approach? His blue-print then extended from the successful and ultimately justified"humanitarian" intervention against Milosovic in Kosovo, to "Rogue States",like Iraq (number one on the list of course) with "WMD" ,yes that famous ringing endightment of an acronym.He was a major political facilitator of the Iraq War.. Eisenhower's worst nightmare of an administration and congress that just gives the "war machine" whatever it wants,and who's members ,in the extreme case of Dick Cheney,are more or less in the business of Arms procurement has come to pass ."Why We Fight" flags up the skewed priorities of the U.S ,with TRILLIONS being spent on arms,a million dollars a minute..ready to be deployed in the name of Freedom and Democracy..with "Kellog Brown and Root" doing the catering. http://www.spout.com/blogs/billhr/archive/2008/1/25/24333.aspx Post By: billhr
Post To: Movies on appliedthinking
Post Date: 1/25/2008 9:09:31 AM
Body: True Films eBook True Films is a list of 200 documentaries compiled by Kevin Kelly and is currently free to download at his site. If you are a fan of documentaries, I highly recommend this list. Docs in the list I am looking forward to seeing?: Helvetica American Movie New York Doll God Grew Tired of Us The Films of Charles and Ray Eames Why We Fight Theremin The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill Tags: documentaries,, kevin-kelly,, spout,, true, films,, ebook Originally posted on:appliedthinking
]]>Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:09:31 GMTbillhrMovies on appliedthinking1/25/2008 9:09:31 AM True Films eBook True Films is a list of 200 documentaries compiled by Kevin Kelly and is currently free to download at his site. If you are a fan of documentaries, I highly recommend this list. Docs in the list I am looking forward to seeing?: Helvetica American Movie New York Doll God Grew Tired of Us The Films of Charles and Ray Eames Why We Fight Theremin The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill Tags: documentaries,, kevin-kelly,, spout,, true, films,, ebook Originally posted on:appliedthinking http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/1/22/24201.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 1/22/2008 11:01:11 AM
Body: The Oscar nominations have been announced, and because we all need to complain about at least one thing every year, let my gripe be with the Jonny Greenwood snub (apparently his score was disqualified). Karina will be sharing her own analysis later today. Stay tuned. It’s been a serious topic that Sundance isn’t the buying frenzy we all thought it would be. But when distributors talk about a filmmaker needing to pay them, it’s really a bad time for the festival. I guess if one of the Jarecki brothers has to abandon documentary filmmaking for a feature debut starring Kirsten Dunst and Ryan Gosling, I’d rather it be Andrew (Capturing the Friedmans) than Eugene (Why We Fight), even if the trailer for All Good Things will be able to sneakily advertise the film as being “From Oscar-nominated director Andrew Jarecki.” Adrian Brody as Leonard Chess and Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters may be the best recording exec/recording artist casting pair-up since Ray’s Curtis Armstrong and Jamie Foxx, but I really just want to know who Cedric the Entertainer will be portraying. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:01:11 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com1/22/2008 11:01:11 AM The Oscar nominations have been announced, and because we all need to complain about at least one thing every year, let my gripe be with the Jonny Greenwood snub (apparently his score was disqualified). Karina will be sharing her own analysis later today. Stay tuned. It’s been a serious topic that Sundance isn’t the buying frenzy we all thought it would be. But when distributors talk about a filmmaker needing to pay them, it’s really a bad time for the festival. I guess if one of the Jarecki brothers has to abandon documentary filmmaking for a feature debut starring Kirsten Dunst and Ryan Gosling, I’d rather it be Andrew (Capturing the Friedmans) than Eugene (Why We Fight), even if the trailer for All Good Things will be able to sneakily advertise the film as being “From Oscar-nominated director Andrew Jarecki.” Adrian Brody as Leonard Chess and Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters may be the best recording exec/recording artist casting pair-up since Ray’s Curtis Armstrong and Jamie Foxx, but I really just want to know who Cedric the Entertainer will be portraying. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/hairylime/archive/2007/6/24/11985.aspx Post By: HairyLime
Post To: HairyLime Blog
Post Date: 6/24/2007 6:54:00 PM
Body: Heard about this one on a short segment on NPR where Christopher Guest (of all people) suggest DVD rentals, and this was one of his choices. I noticed it was running on our local cable's 'on demand' service, so took a look at it last night (and then restarted it again from the beginning so my wife could watch the whole thing too, when she wandered into the room - mostly because the opening scenes of the 'airplane graveyard' we had actually visited in Tucson recently). Fascinating documentary, that seems to take a very hard cold look at the double dealings and backroom motivations behind why we have managed to stay constantly at war with someone or other since the end of World War Two. Frightening, sobering, and depressing look at how the military industrial complex has so completely and neatly infiltrated the workings of our country to the point where I don't think we could ever stop it if we wanted to. Unfortunately the cable goofed up and we ended up missing the last 9 minutes of the movie, but we will be back to finish it at our earliest convenience. (Oddly and ironically enough, we got a call about halfway through the film from our teenaged son, who was over at a friends house, playing video games, --- 'Call To Duty', which gave us both a chill)
]]>Sun, 24 Jun 2007 22:54:00 GMTHairyLimeHairyLime Blog6/24/2007 6:54:00 PMHeard about this one on a short segment on NPR where Christopher Guest (of all people) suggest DVD rentals, and this was one of his choices. I noticed it was running on our local cable&#39;s &#39;on demand&#39; service, so took a look at it last night (and then restarted it again from the beginning so my wife could watch the whole thing too, when she wandered into the room - mostly because the opening scenes of the &#39;airplane graveyard&#39; we had actually visited in Tucson recently). Fascinating documentary, that seems to take a very hard cold look at the double dealings and backroom motivations behind why we have managed to stay constantly at war with someone or other since the end of World War Two. Frightening, sobering, and depressing look at how the military industrial complex has so completely and neatly infiltrated the workings of our country to the point where I don&#39;t think we could ever stop it if we wanted to. Unfortunately the cable goofed up and we ended up missing the last 9 minutes of the movie, but we will be back to finish it at our earliest convenience. (Oddly and ironically enough, we got a call about halfway through the film from our teenaged son, who was over at a friends house, playing video games, --- &#39;Call To Duty&#39;, which gave us both a chill) http://www.spout.com/blogs/gothere/archive/2007/4/23/7508.aspx Post By: gothere
Post To: You should go there
Post Date: 4/23/2007 10:26:29 PM
Body: Why We Fight is an incredible, eye-opening, scary look at the United States of America. It's about who we are, who we've become, and how we got here.
]]>Tue, 24 Apr 2007 02:26:29 GMTgothereYou should go there4/23/2007 10:26:29 PMWhy We Fight is an incredible, eye-opening, scary look at the United States of America. It&#39;s about who we are, who we&#39;ve become, and how we got here. http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/war/MemberTagFilms.aspxwar
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