Why We Fight

Directed by Eugene Jarecki

Sony Pictures Classics

4 stars





“Why We Fight” is the work of a haunted man. America’s increasing militarism, the toxic synergy between industry and the Armed Forces, and the specter of Dwight D. Eisenhower have spooked filmmaker Eugene Jarecki into producing yet another documentary about America’s abuses of power domestically and abroad.

Like Jarecki’s 2002 film, “The Trials of Henry Kissinger,” “Why We Fight” is an exploration of the paradox of American foreign policy: namely, our willingness to sanction preemptive aggression, targeted killings, torture, and a host of other evils in the name of peace and democracy.

Jarecki finds a figure of even greater significance than Kissinger around whom to organize “Why We Fight”—President Eisenhower. Eisenhower represents our battle-scarred national conscience, rather than the American pathology Kissinger symbolized.

Excerpts from President Eisenhower’s farewell address begin and punctuate the film, but one excerpt from that speech serves as the film’s leitmotif: “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

Jarecki’s film endeavors to detail the manifold ways in which America has failed to heed President Eisenhower’s warning.

One of the documentary’s most harrowing scenes occurs at a weapons trade show. Representatives from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and a swarm of other arms companies routinely host such shows, during which they hawk their killing wares to Pentagon officials and military advisers. The atmosphere of these events is no different than that of a boat or auto show, down to the balloon-sculpting clowns and stage magicians.

The casual, even downright cheery, tone in which the commerce of WMD occurs epitomizes political philosopher Hannah Arendt’s notion of “the banality of evil.”

The restraint Jarecki employs in this depiction of the military-industrial complex is admirable: rather than oversell the absurdity of the scene, he lets it unfurl without commentary. Clichéd declarations like “No Blood For Oil,” “Bush Lied and People Died,” etc., are mercifully absent from the film. By avoiding these cartoonish histrionics, Jarecki distinguishes himself from the likes of Michael Moore—to whom he is often unfairly compared.

Unlike Moore, Jarecki never inserts himself into his film or uses his camera as a bully pulpit. “Why We Fight” is shot in a straightforward documentary style—interviews interspersed with archival footage—and Jarecki demonstrates integrity by interviewing his ideological opponents with the same dignity and thoughtfulness he affords his allies.

His conversations with arch neo-conservatives William Kristol and Richard Perle are exemplary of his evenhandedness: any revulsion the viewer might feel for these two is a response to their warped worldview, not to manipulative filmmaking or special effects trickery.

Two interviews will haunt viewers long after they have left the theaters: Nguyet Anh Duong, a refugee of the Vietnam War, who now designs bombs for the U.S. Army; and Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, Ret., a life-long soldier and Pentagon staffer who became so disillusioned with the conduct of the current Iraq War that she retired from the military and has forbidden her sons from enlisting.

These women span the ideological divide with respect to American militarism. Both have dedicated their lives to the service of the same government, but their personal experiences have driven them to opposite conclusions about its virtue—their disagreement is a microcosm of the national discourse.

“Why We Fight”—like Eisenhower’s farewell address—is a jeremiad warning of a future in which the institutions erected for our defense rule rather than serve our society. This Orwellian dystopia seems closer than ever to reality: in the film’s closing moments Jarecki captures Richard Perle, with an entourage of arms manufacturers in tow, strolling through the corridors of the Pentagon to finalize yet another weapons contract.

The camera falls behind the bureaucrats and pans up to reveal a portrait of President Eisenhower hovering above silently like a ghost.

—Staff writer Bernard L. Parham can be reached at parham@fas.harvard.edu.