Why We Fight

Theatrical Release Date: 2006 01 20 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 043396138940

Studio: Sony Pictures

MPAA Rating: PG13   Contains:null

Summary: 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, Rovi

Category: Culture & Society

Awards: In Competition – Sundance Film Festival American Documentary Grand Jury Prize – Sundance Film Festival Best Documentary – Writers Guild of America

Features: ccExtra scenes
Extended character featurettes
Filmmaker TV appearances: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Charlie Rose
Audience Q&A with filmmaker
Filmmaker commentary with Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson
Theatrical trailer

Why We Fight

Format: DVD

Release Date: 06/27/2006

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Alternate Wide Screen

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 99 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: French,Spanish,Portuguese

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Why We Fight
1. What Are We Fighting For? [7:50]
2. A One-Superpower World [10:22]
3. How Far Does the U.S. Go? [8:52]
4. Unwarranted Influence [5:20]
5. The American Way of War [5:18]
6. Too Close a Relationship [9:01]
7. Army of One [6:45]
8. A Militaristic Nation [5:39]
9. Blowback [11:26]
10. The Public Doesn't Need to Know [8:12]
11. The Opening Shot [11:35]
12. The World Has Changed [8:31]

Derek Armstrong

Eugene Jarecki's documentary Why We Fight takes its name from a series of propaganda films made by Frank Capra during World War II, which were designed to support the American war effort. But Jarecki has quite a different agenda now than Capra had then. Why We Fight is unambiguously anti-war, but unlike some 21st century anti-war documentaries, it doesn't exist just to hang the Bush administration out to dry. To be certain, Jarecki's film criticizes the faulty reasoning behind invading Iraq as stridently as anyone out there, specifically, Vice President Dick Cheney's connection to a company (Halliburton) that would directly profit from this invasion. But it presents another conservative president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, as the sage voice of reason underpinning the whole film, with his prescient warnings about "the military-industrial complex" -- in other words, a self-perpetuating war machine that burrows into the capitalist fabric of the country, independent of political parties and unaccountable at the polls. Meanwhile, Jarecki notes that Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, used intelligence to justify military engagement in Vietnam that was just as flimsy as Bush's search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Why We Fight is an excellent balance between history lesson and current events, and it makes its case compellingly through the facts presented and the people interviewed -- most of whom agree with Jarecki's perspective, but some of whom do not (such as conservative hawk Richard Perle). Most memorable among the interviewees, from a standpoint of journalistic fairness, are the Iraqi citizens whom Jarecki went to the trouble of interviewing in their own backyard. Their presence adds one more voice to the debate, a voice that even the most conscientious of Jarecki's peers might have overlooked. Why We Fight is a highly illuminating portrait of a national psychology, full of sobering truths. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Hans Robert Eisenhauer  Executive Producer 
Nick Fraser  Executive Producer 
Eugene Jarecki  Director 
Eugene Jarecki  Producer 
Eugene Jarecki  Screenwriter 
Roy Ackerman  Executive Producer 
Susannah Shipman  Producer 
Robert Miller  Composer (Music Score) 
Wilton Sekzer  Actor 
Chalmers Johnson  Actor 
William Solomon  Actor 
Charles Lewis  Actor 
Richard Perle  Actor 
William Kristol  Actor 
Karen Kwiatkowski  Actor 
Joseph Ciricione  Actor 
Susan Eisenhower  Actor 
John S.D. Eisenhower  Actor 
Anh Duong  Actor 
Gwynne Dyer  Actor 
John McCain  Actor 
Gore Vidal  Actor 
Franklin Spinney  Actor 

Country: Canada,France,UK,USA