Why We Fight (2005)

Why We Fight Film Director Eugene Jarecki states, “Frank Capra made a series of films during World War II called WHY WE FIGHT that explored America’s reasons for entering the war. Today, with our troops engaged in Iraq and elsewhere for reasons far less clear, I think it’s crucial to ask the questions: ‘Why are we doing what we are doing? What is it doing to others? And what is it doing to us?’”

· WHY WE FIGHT, the 2005 film by Eugene Jarecki which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, is an unflinching look at the anatomy of the American war machine, weaving unforgettable personal stories with commentary by a “who’s who” of military and beltway insiders. · WHY WE FIGHT launches a bipartisan inquiry into the workings of the military industrial complex and the rise of the American Empire. · Inspired by Dwight Eisenhower’s legendary farewell speech (in which he coined the phrase “military industrial complex”), filmmaker Jarecki surveys the scorched landscape of a half-century’s military adventures, asking how – and telling why – a nation of, by, and for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a system whose survival depends on a state of constant war.

Reflection Questions

1. What are the forces that shape and propel American militarism?

2. What is the “military industrial complex”?

3. What did Eisenhower warn about the “military industrial complex? Has his fears come true?

4. Outline key examples from American history of how U.S. foreign policy has been dominated by the idea of military supremacy.

5. Has the military become too important in American life? 

6. How are weapon makers shaping US military and foreign policies?

7. What are the forces – political, economic, ideological – that drive the United States to fight against an ever-changing enemy?

8. In your opinion, why does America fight?

Links
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/storyville/why-we-fight.shtml http://www.sonyclassics.com/whywefight/