Why We Fight Eugene Jarecki Digital Life DVD

Why We Fight
starring: Gore Vidal, John McCain, Ken Adelman, John Ashcroft, Osama Bin Laden
directed by: Eugene Jarecki

List Price: $14.94

Amazon.com's Price: $10.49

You Save: $4.45 (30%)
Prices subject to change.

Used Price: $6.39
Third Party New Price: $6.97

Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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: 98 minutes
Sales Rank: 4581
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 2006

Digital Life
Related Items:

Digital Life
Editorial Review:

Description:
Why We Fight is the provocative new documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (The Trials of Henry Kissinger) and winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Named after the series of short films by legendary director Frank Capra that explored America’s reasons for entering World War II, Why We Fight surveys a half-century of military conflicts, asking how – and answering why – a nation of, by and for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a government system whose survival depends on an Orwellian state of constant war.

The Why We Fight DVD features interviews and observations by a 'who’s who' of military and Washington insiders including Senator John McCain, Gore Vidal, and Dan Rather. Beginning with President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s prescient 1961 speech warning of the rise of the 'military industrial complex,' Why We Fight moves far beyond the headlines of various American military operations to the deeper questions of why America seemingly is always at war. What are the forces – political, economic, and ideological – that drive us to clash against an ever-changing enemy? Just why does America fight? Unforgettable, powerful and at times disturbing, Why We Fight on DVD will challenge viewers long after the last fade-out.

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

Digital Life Reviews

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Why We Fight tells the story
A dash of the Michael Moore style of documentary, but much more factual and accurate in historical basis for the thesis: Sometimes America fights because the Industrial Military Complex has more power than elected leaders. Great interviews with McCain back before his quest for the Presidency led him off the real Straight Talk Express. Try to ignore a couple of the more slanted interviews... Gore Vidal is full of it! Otherwise, much food for thought that needs to be considered.

Rating:

- Why we fight
I bought this movie on advice from a dear friend. Aside from the content itself (intriguing and somewhat bothersome from a moral point of view) the DVD came in 'mint' condition and arrived prior to its expected delivery date. I would definitely purchase DVD's from this seller again.

Rating:

- The war is the continuation of... BUSINESS by other means !!!
Von Clausewitz once stated that "War is the continuation of politics by other means" but this excellent documentary shows us that modern wars are being waged with other purposes in mind.

One should watch this DVD immediately after Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" and Alex Gibney's "Enron: The Smartest Guys in The Room" to get a glimpse of how corporate America have been intertwined with politics in the last few years. If this trend persists, maybe America's future will be the same as the ones so brilliantly described by Paul Kennedy's book "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers"

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 (to date, the only president whose popularity rating was lower than that of George W. Bush at 23 percent) 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 ... Read More

Digital Life

Digital Life is all about
CD's DVD's Music Video Concerts Movies and Software

DVD : Why We Fight
Digital Life Average Rating:

Digital Life is all about CD's DVD's Music Video Concerts Movies and Software

DVD : Why We Fight Digital Life Average Rating:

Digital Life is all about
CD's DVD's Music Video Concerts Movies and Software

DVD : Why We Fight
Digital Life Average Rating: