The defence The Auteur Devotee
“Ambition earns the room.”
The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.
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Why We Fight
Documentary · History · 2005
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.
Movie details
Why We Fight
“It Is Nowhere Written That The American Empire Goes On Forever”
2005 Documentary · History 1h 38m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
8.0 / 10
10.3K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
78 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
68 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
7.5 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
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.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Why We Fight?
For the defence
The Auteur Devotee
“You watch the director, not the movie.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Eugene Jarecki
Written by
Eugene Jarecki
C
Chalmers Johnson
Self - CIA, 1967-1973
J
Joseph Cirincione
Self - Carnegie Endowment for Peace
Gore Vidal
Self - Author, "Imperial America"
C
Charles Lewis
Self - Center for Public Integrity
Richard Perle
Self - Advisor, U.S. Dept. of Defense
William Kristol
Self - Project for the New American Century
John McCain
Self - Senator (R/AZ)
Court is in session
Put Why We Fight on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Importance has entered the chat.”
The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.