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Why We Fight is the provocative documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (The Trials of Henry
Kissinger) and winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.
Why We Fight is also the title of a series of propaganda films that Frank Capra began making in 1942, with the
aim of encouraging the American war effort against Nazism. Jarecki uses these films as a commentary on the
contemporary obsession of the American elite with military power.
He also harks back to a speech by President Eisenhower, who, just before he left office, referred to the
"military-industrial complex". Eisenhower was worried that too much intelligence, and too much business acumen
in America, had become focussed on the production of unnecessary weapons systems.
Since Eisenhower's time, everything has become much worse, as Eugene Jarecki describes it. The war in Iraq
was made possible by a new range of weapons systems: a bomb called the "bunker buster" was dropped by
stealth bombers on the first night of the conflict.
Is American foreign policy dominated by the idea of military supremacy? Has the military become too important in
American life? Jarecki's shrewd and intelligent polemic would seem to give an affirmative answer to each of these
questions.
Running time: 98 minutes.
Read a review here.
free screening
Sunday, January 14, 2007
6 p.m.
Uptown Bill's
Mad Hatter's Music & Meeting Room
401 S. Gilbert St., Iowa City
Watch the film in a casual and comfortable environment and
enjoy snacks from the Uptown Bill's Ice Cream and Coffee
Bar. (Bar sales support the wonderful and important work
provided by Uptown Bill's.)
Co-sponsored by Uptown Bill's Sunday night movie series and the
School for Moral Courage.