FILMBRATS - REVIEWS

During his farewell address to the American public, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the people of a burgeoning trend. He called it the “Military Industrial Complex.” He feared the military, in conjunction with the corporations and industries that produce its materials, was growing too powerful and too influential. Policy should be dictated by the people, the masses and not by the interests of the few. If this new machine is able to gain more political clout in the White House, the nation will be harmed in a potentially irrevocable manner.

That was 1961. In 2006, filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (“The Trials of Henry Kissinger”) studies the current relationship between policy makers and this Military Industrial Complex. What he finds is that Eisenhower’s nightmare is true and the results could end up being worse than even he imagined. Jarecki paints an incriminating portrait of current politics in which both parties are equally guilty of falling victim to this seemingly unstoppable machine. He forms a well-researched and damning argument, especially against the George W. Bush administration while showing the subtle and not so subtle corruption that’s been taking place essentially since World War II. The film succinctly describes why exactly we are going to war and just how we ended up in Iraq. In fact, the whole 60+ year span gets summed up amazingly well in less than five minutes.

The material presented is actually more damaging than what you will find in “Fahrenheit 9/11” in part because it’s stronger and more despicable and in part because the filmmaker doesn’t feel the need to place himself in the forefront. Granted that means the film isn’t as entertaining and doesn’t provide the comic relief that’s sometimes needed when considering the implications of what the government has been doing. However, that also means you’re getting a more straight-forward, honest take on the situation at hand. How much defense do we really need? How did Saddam Hussein go from being our ally into our number one target? Jarecki will tell you through talking head interviews from both sides of the political fence, and the answers will surprise you.

It says a lot that I can only bash this based on technique and not on the content within. The only thing really holding this film back is the structure and the editing. I don’t understand the reasoning behind spreading out the story of the two pilots bombing Iraq, thus starting the war, over several small chunks. I suppose some type of parallel is meant to be formed, but I couldn’t find it. Instead I saw a story start, then stop, I forgot about it, it came back for a bit, then went away, repeat until finally it comes to a very unsatisfying conclusion. The filmmaking in general is rather sloppy and generic, and anyone who doesn’t care about the material won’t find anything redeeming about this. However, I can see that the movie has great potential in getting people interested and promoting some type of ground swell if seen by the masses. The movie proves that if change is going to come, we can’t rely on the politicians to do it.

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