'Why We Fight Wars' Director Interview. (New Documentary Film)

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Wars of the World
A Q&A With 'Why We Fight' Director Eugene Jarecki
by Kevin Polowy

Though his riveting new documentary 'Why We Fight' takes an uncompromising look at the Iraq War, filmmaker Eugene Jarecki wanted to distance himself -- and his film -- from the constituency of unabashedly left-leaning works meant to rally the electorate in 2004 ('Fahrenheit 9/11,' anyone?). Debuting at last year's Sundance Film Festival, where it won the documentary competition's Grand Jury Prize, the film has since taken a buzz-generating tour of the 2005 fest circuit. The passing of time has made it no less topical, given America's increasing ambivalence about the Iraq quagmire. Looking at Dwight Eisenhower's prophetic farewell speech in which he warned that continuing to pump up U.S. defense funds without the American people's vigilance would result in the military-industrial complex running rampant, Jarecki ('The Trials of Henry Kissinger') examines the current war by canvassing politicians, pundits, bomb-dropping pilots and everyday people for answers to a fundamental question: Why does America go to war? We enlisted Jarecki for a few questions of our own, as 'Why We Fight' invades theaters.

Moviefone: Have you long been fascinated with war and peace and the fact that our country is so often involved in the former?

Eugene Jarecki: Yeah, I think it's natural for any artist living in a time of war to ask himself why we're doing what we're doing in any given time, and the movie takes its title from films made by Frank Capra during World War II. Capra was asked by the military at that time to make a series of films exploring America's reasons for entering World War II. And I thought it was natural, given that we're living in a new time of war, to ask that same question, understanding that to a very large extent the reasons may have changed. And the reasons that everyday Americans perceive for why we fight wars have shifted. The waters I think have become far muddier.

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