alonovo.com (beta 2.0)

Eisenhower's warning lost in oblivion 2010-02-23

Reviewer: Kernel08

I had no idea how this US expresident warned people about the birth of a "military industrial complex", and how US would become an empire, like Roma at its time. The truth is that nobody certainly knows why we fight at all. The answer is in this film: business. Eisenhower knew this and told the people to stay alert about the coming business whose only interest is keeping war on and on, just to have customers to whom they can sell their products. Good documentary.

Poignant Film 2009-09-30

Reviewer: Geek Freak

Insightful movie as to how and why we enter all these unnecessary wars. If you're not a fan of history already, compelling evidence that the more you know the more skeptical you will be. The U.S. is seldom the altruistic protector of civil liberties we portray ourselves to be; more often war is financially and politically motived, complete with propoganda financed by the military-industrial complex, and financed by us shills....er...I mean loyal citizens.

Must see documentary! 2009-08-10

Reviewer: Brian Oakes

I've seen many documentaries, most of them very well done. However, Why We Fight stands above them all. It is extremely well done and raises engaging concise points of debate. As with many mainstream documentaries, there is a slight bias. But the director has clearly gone out of his way to find compelling interviews with both sides of the argument. I would highly recommend this film whether you are pro or anti war. I'm sure that this movie will be referenced much more often in the future in the ongoing "fight for freedom."

Unethical use of emotion to make an argument 2009-06-23

Reviewer: Hematite

When it stuck to data it was compelling. It lost credibility with the personal tales of the guy who lost his son and the female soldier. Yes, there is ample opportunity for greed in military contracting. True, not everyone is ethical. Yes, there are probably motivations which we can only speculate on, and it is frustrating that some real issues are not discussed openly.
But for these two people to either profess or feign their ignorance that these are complicated issues, does not interest me. If your are going to ask me to sit for a presentation, please present ideas that are going to teach us something, not that some average joe was duped. I don't want to hear about them. I feel bad for this guy, but tying his pain into this was a bad way to make a rational argument.
I was filled with dread, when we went into Afghanistan. I was heartbroken when we went into Iran. I was also furious when we went into Serbia, to wag the dog for Clinton.
Listing McCain on it was also very cheap. He is so peripheral to the main theme that it is infuriating to see his name listed. He must be very frustrated over this as he makes only the most general statements which have little to do with the beginning of the film and nothing to do with the end.
Why doesn't somebody make a movie about something worth debating, instead of this conspiracy theory nonsense. Example: Should the U.S. maintain a significant presence in foreign lands for the purposes securing strategic resources, in the presence of unstable governments which lack popular support and freedom for their people? There is something to talk about. Maybe its not sexy enough for Mr. Jareki, but at least it is a tangible and open issue, that nobody can deny exists. Start there!

Failure to Heed Eisenhower's Warning 2009-06-04

Reviewer: Bryan A. Pfleeger

Eugene Jereki's Why We Fight starts with Eisenhower's farewell speech to the nation in 1961 in which he warned Americans to be vigilent concerning the rapid growth of the military-industrial complex. Today he posits that failure to heed the warning has led to the war in Iraq and a return of American imperialism.

While Jereki makes his argument in a cogent manner, my problem with the film is that it does not really say anything new. We have heard these arguments before. Most natably from Michael Moore in recent years. We know that there was double dealing on the part of the military contractors, we know that today's society makes it easier to go to war than it had in the past, we know that Congress has made deals with major corporations for profit what we don't know is how to solve any of these problems. One good thing about the film is that Jereki pushes the idea that a good citizen is an informed citizen and we must all do our parts to stay ever watchful.

I viewed the standard definition disc. The picture and sound quality are quite good as expected for a Sony release. The wealth of special features include extended and deleted scenes, character profiles, an audience Q&A with Jereki, television interviews and an outstanding commentary track featuring Jereki.