You Want Courage? Are You Willing to Support It?

When I tell any truth it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those who do. ~ William Blake

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I am not a film-critic as most of you know. So the below is not meant to be a plot summary and some catchy thumbs-up-down analysis of the brilliant new John Cusack film -- a political black comedy on the Iraq war called appropriately War Inc. If you want background and snippets, then see here.

My interest in writing about the film right now, before its opening on May 23rd, is in the hope of saving it from what appears to be a distinct stench of blacklisting. No, I do not believe there is an organized, conspiratorial effort to shut-down a wide release of War Inc. Just to be clear, that is not what I am saying. In reality, we no longer need any organized effort because the mechanism of censorship is now so fully integrated into the body-politic of this nation anyway.

But I do think that there is an unspoken mega-understanding within mega-corporations and their wholly owned mega-writers that the film should be quietly escorted from the reach of the general public and instead, relegated to the outskirts of art-houses and small venues in a land far, far away.

Consider this idiotic review from the Toronto Star:

"It all adds up to a fast pace, lots of shooting, and a movie that, in its heart, is as corrupt as the politics it attempts to satirize."

That is a rather strong statement, is it not? Yet the writer of this nonsensical assertion never explains how War Inc. is "as corrupt as the politics it attempts to satirize." The words sound impressive, presented all glossy-like on the pages of a news publication. But read this idiocy again. It is total non-sense. This is the kind of contorted acrobatics the corporate press is entangling itself in so that they can justify why they are trashing this film. Seriously, unless War Inc. is responsible for the deaths of nearly a million Iraqis or even one Iraqi frankly, this assertion by the Star is closer someone's idea of acid-trip wit than it is a serious review of the film.

Are you surprised?

In an interview I recently did with John Cusack about his film he told me what a hard time he had getting a studio interested in the project and getting distributors to look at the finished product. I wondered how this could be possible given the all-star line-up which includes Marisa Tomei, Ben Kingsley, Dan Aykroyd, Hillary Duff, and Joan Cusack.

And even now, after many well respected journalists and thinkers have fully backed the film, it still hangs in the balance of opening weekend results, or else it will be moved straight from its limited release to DVD - in other words, to a land far, far away.

But Look Here

Most mainstream critics have described War Inc. as either a failed attempt to recreate the political and social potency of Dr. Strangelove or as a tepid attempt at satirizing the Iraq war using over-the top and idiotic humor as the tool. Yet still others have described the film as failing simply because of timing. You see, we are still in the Iraq war; it is still too fresh, so the truth still hurts too much. In short, they don't "get" it.

Indeed the people who "get" War Inc., in their critiques and reviews are a smaller contingent than those who are busy panning it. But that smaller contingent is not a collective of "movie-critics" working for corporate owned publications. Rather, the people who "get" War Inc., are people I read, admire, and whose opinions I trust. They are people you read, admire and whose opinions you trust.

They are serious writers and thinkers who have spent a great deal of time in Iraq; who have broken new ground in reporting on the extent of corporate abuses and war profiteering; who many consider to be heroes.

The voices backing War Inc., include Gore Vidal, one of the finest thinkers of our time, Naomi Klein, one of the most respected journalists of our time, Jeremy Scahill, one of the few journalists to take on corporate profiteering in Iraq and at home, Lara Logan, the chief foreign correspondent for CBS and who has been stationed in Iraq all this long while, nearly losing her life while trying to inform us, the public (ensconced safely at home). To these voices I add my own, although much smaller voice, of support.

Surely these people should have more weight with distributors, movie theaters, and all the folks who come together and decide if something is thumbing up or down? Apparently not for those who decide if and when a movie becomes a flop.

In reading some of the corporate excuses/reviews used by the corporate writers to explain why they do not like the film, I become increasingly more and more incensed and puzzled. I would respect the corporate-pens more if they actually admitted having not seen the film or having lifted their opinion from another opinion-maker or to simply having been paid to trash the film. But to use arguments that are insufficient (the war is too fresh) and are ultimately ridiculous (it is not Dr. Strangelove) is disingenuous on their part and something I can easily remedy by pointing out why-- at least on the two most often used reasons for why the film "does not work."

Dr. Strangelove it is not...

This absurdist comedy clearly has aspirations to be this generation's "Dr. Strangelove," with its satirical attack on the privatization of the Iraq War. But despite its sterling cast and a screenplay written by such experienced farceurs as Cusack ("Grosse Pointe Blank"), Mark Leyner (the novel "Et Tu, Babe") and Jeremy Pikser ("Bulworth"), the film is far more groan- than laugh-inducing. Scheduled to hit theaters May 23, the First Look release is unlikely to counter the commercial malaise for war-themed films. ~The Hollywood Reporter

Although there are elements of Strangelove in War Inc., most notably in the near final scenes, it is not an attempt to translate an ineffable concept to a propagandized populace using humor as a vehicle by which to educate them.

John Cusack, Mark Leyner and Jeremy Pikser deliver something of a different animal in their screenplay.

Strangelove's brilliance is that it took an idea most of the public did not understand - the philosophy of nuclear deterrence through assured total mutual destruction - and stripped it of the political jargon, using comedy to make palatable the idiocy and duplicity of the Cold War arms race.

War Inc. does not attempt to emulate this formula at all nor does it claim to. Consider that we - the public - do not need to have the political opera translated for us. We don't need to be educated on a concept too hard to otherwise grasp. The majority of the public already knows that the reasons for the Iraq war were a lie, a willful, bold-faced lie by the leadership of this country.

The majority of the public already knows that the only people to benefit from the war are the private sector cronies of the Bush administration, some of whom are still stock holders in some of these private sector companies.

Most importantly, the majority of the public knows all of this despite billions of dollars spent by the Bush administration on illegal domestic and foreign propaganda to convince us otherwise.

Yet the pantomime continues, the charade goes on, the farce is on the march. So our reality becomes a sort of waking nightmare, a split reality where nothing is what it seems to be and everyone is lying about something. Everything is for sale, and we better continue buying as if in a 'wink-wink' way we are being threatened should we dare not play along.

So we play, but we scream anyway. We cry anyway. We rage anyway. But we play.

War Inc. magnifies that which we already know and that which we are being forced to play along with. It is not subtle, it is not meant to be. It is not meant for the 10% of the populace who await the End Times to come and save them from themselves. They won't get it, because to get it, you have to first know that our reality is all a lie for profit, only then can you grasp the massive cerebral hemorrhage that War Inc., delivers.

The Horror

Think for a moment of the real-life desert of the real that we live in. The Bush administration and their paid proxies, for example, attack those who disagree with them on the Iraq war as not supporting our soldiers.

The term "irony" is not remotely strong enough to convey the horror of this rhetoric given that it is pouring out of the mouths of the very people who have lied to and exploited the troops, our troops.

The same people -- the Bush administration and their proxies -- sent thousands of US soldiers to their death through willful lies and abandoned the broken rest to a hell-hole wasteland of medical neglect -- have the arrogance to actually lecture us on supporting the troops.

Worse still, the corporate press echoes these same talking points. Yet we see right through all of this, don't we? It goes in circles and never stops. Is this not excruciatingly absurd? How does one find the logic of this chaos and maintain some semblance of sanity?

There is a scene in War Inc., which quite literally takes this perverted propaganda and puts it on stage in the form of a chorus-line of women whose legs have been amputated. Watching them kick up their metal prosthetic legs all the while smiling in thanks to the fictional defense contractor who has made their dance possible is bone-chilling. Yes, I laughed at the absurdity, but a sort of nervous laughter because crying long ceased to relieve the tension.

This scene captures perfectly that which we know about the twisted way in which the crimes of the Bush administration have actually hurt our troops and turns inside-out the talking points of the corporate press, directly aiming the sewage back against its origin.

No, War Inc. is definitely not a Dr. Strangelove remake. Rather, it is a mix of two other Kubrick classics, Full Metal Jacket and A Clockwork Orange, with a dash of the Wizard of Oz and a sprinkling of Strangelove to make the taste of the whole concoction palatable.

Too Fresh to be Funny...

Many of the corporate critics say the film pours salt on wounds still to raw, wounds still being inflicted. Well if John McCain gets his wish and we stay in Iraq for 100 years, then perhaps our grandchildren's grandchildren will be far removed enough from history to not be offended by it.

Consider this stunningly telling review:

A blackly comic take on the first totally outsourced war? We're too close to being in one right now, which makes this John Cusack vehicle too close for comfort. It's also so close to being funny you can just about taste it -- just about. ~ John Anderson, Variety

We are "too close to being in one right now?" Um, we are not too close, rather we are exactly there. The discomfort you are feeling Mr. Anderson is a necessary pinch to make sure you are still human. Are you? Are we?

Beyond the too-close-for-comfort meme, the real question here is at what point does the public's discomfort become necessary so that the truth of the Iraq war can finally come to light? Perhaps the time for less discomfort is yet to come, although I doubt that such a thing as war crimes could ever be something I am ever comfortable with or would ever want to be. Would you?

Yes, my discomfort in watching the film was visceral and I laughed too, but it was necessary for my sanity to have someone else tell me that they see what I see. It was for the benefit of those "who know" the truth that this movie was made. Not for those who rage against truth at all costs, perhaps in hopes of salvaging the little part of them that they can still call human.

Do what I do, not what they say

Ultimately, the success of this film will not rest with intellectually lazy film-critics or with the musings of privately owned members of the fourth estate. The success of this film will rest with you, the audience and with a grassroots movement that has thus far been the only force to keep this nation from diving fully into the arms of fascism. Make me proud and buy a ticket tomorrow. Show up in droves and see for yourselves if you think this film as brilliant and brave as I do.

I am counting on you the way you count on me, the way all of us who want courage from others must count on ourselves to support that courage when called upon to do so.

To read the reviews and learn more about War Inc, go to www.myspace.com/johncusack

Comments

[YankeeCanuck]

For those unfamiliar with the Toronto Star which gave the film an unfavorable review-- it's about on the level of the New York Post.
I will see the film at the first opportunity, given the recommendation by Ms Alexandrovna.She has intuition for important issues and is unafraid to report on them.

[YankeeCanuck]

Oops, I had the SUN stuck in my head-- the tabloid with the Post-like slant. The paper where David Frum got his start.
I'm surprised at the Star.

[mamacat]

There was another movie last year that had mixed reviews, Lions for Lambs. I finally saw it, and was struck by how moving and accureate it was.

I will definitely go to see War, Inc., if it ever comes out around here. John Cusack has a fine body of work.

[leftbehind2000]

Unlike Tom Cruise, John Cusack actually matters to me. So if he made an important movie about the war, I'll go see it. If it ever comes to Kansas City, that is...

[royevatom]

You can watch John Cusacks film War, Inc. online for free. There are at least half a dozen sites hosting it. Hook up your laptop to your hdtv, switch on the surround sound and stream the film. While it may not be available at your local theater the days of none access are pretty much over. The best anti war film currently available is Battle for Hidatha, unfortunately it has no popular media personality and it is not funny.

[MercedesGabriella]

One of my favorite movies last year was "Grace is Gone". I saw it at a film festival. It never got a theatrical release in the US. Kudos to John Cusack for continuing making these movies that seem to be blackballed.

[LuckyBlessed]

Last week I found Scahill"s piece syrupy to the point I thought he was either trying to get his book sold, get laid or both. Comparatively I found Larisa inspiring, so that I kept rereading it to make sure I didn"t miss some gem.

Sorry, but I have to play devil"s advocate with so many positive responses, including Grace Is Gone, and suggestions about guerrilla marketing, one has to wonder what did John and his entourage do wrong?

Moore is certainly a bigger lightening rod for haters and big money, but 911 and Sicko went nationwide, even playing in my backwater neck o" the woods. It made me think of someone "important" I had to entertain this past week. We were all nice to his face, but behind his back felt his ego was surely going to make us vomit. Perhaps the powers that be are nice for the sake of money from romantic comedies, but¦

John and his entourage seemed to follow protocol by trying the big festivals, like Toronto last September, or Sundance, which never transpired(He does joke on his My Space when asked when do you lie, "Only when awake or speaking or looking at someone.")

Perhaps the mistake, the irony is that John and his entourage trusted the LA industrial complex versus the common fans who have had his back lo" so many years. Who know? Just being a "B" playing devil"s advocate, but I wouldn"t have bothered if not inspired by Larisa"s piece.

[freshnotbitter]

I haven't seen this film and wonder if it compares favorably to "Catch-22".

When I go into Blockbuster a sales person will often strike up a chat about films and when they suggest a movie with Iraq war content ("Rendition" for example) I say "you know there is something about the 'War on Terror' movies that just leaves me totally uninterested. The minute I see an Arab in a scene I just mentally turn off and I lose interest so I stopped renting them.

It all seems so remote and totally unrelated to anything in the life of an ordinary American. I just couldn't care less about the people in those movies and there is so much exciting going on in the world that I don't understand why anybody would waste their time making the movies about the war on terror."

The sales reps always nod in agreement and say something like "yeah I know what you mean".

Alexandra, the reason the war movies bomb is that they are terminally boring because they have nothing to do with the interests of any sane person. That is why 2 out of 3 Americans are against the war and the Republicans are about to lose their seats in government. In short, the Republicans have bombed and the movies they have inspired in people like John Cusak must bomb with them.

Don't you feel better now?

[rhubardpi]

To state that the majority already know the war to be a "willful lie" is over the top in my view. I detest bush/vice presidick cheney as much as most and strongly opposed that war before it started, but too actually prove willful is very dificult at best and I have seen no evidence that the war is based on a willful lie. It seems rather to be based on arrogance, ignorance, and all to typical government incompetence. So while I enjoy most anything that pokes bush/cheney in the eye, I am not overly impressed with the rationale that we must see this movie to ........what?...maintain our sanity......that'll take more than a movie for me.

[researcher]

here is the real story most americans are imperialists and dont have a clue they are. anyone that does not protest our mega industrial military complex or mega military is an imperialist.

for six decades we americans have supported this mega military and not said much. now we pay the price and we whine like babies.

we get what we pay for. wars make profits at the expense of the middle class so if the middle class does nothing the war mongers make big profits.

will spend the dollars to see this movie to support it like i did with sicko.

until americans realize they are imperialists nothing much will change.

calling your soldiers war heros in illegal wars is the very definition of imperialism.

about one third of americans are out and out war mongers like bush jr but they will not change to deep into nationalism to change.

again we are receiving what we paid for. enjoy. or not. but quit whining.

[caraqueno]

You are RIGHT ON!

Our imperialism has deep roots and was left largely unchallenged in the minds of most Americans until the loss of legal power by whites over non-whites in the Civil Rights Movement and the beginning of what politely is called "outsourcing" of jobs to developing countries in the 1980's. These events challenged and frightened, largely, Southern and Midwestern white men into believing they wouldn't be "the chosen" to rule the US or the world. It's not picking on a group. It's the truth. Those Americans ushered in the new conservatism created by Reagan, Bush, and co. to calm the fears of these men that they would rule supreme again. In exchange for that, those Americans allowed the Republican administrations to rip out the manufacturing industries of the US, allow illegal invasion and slaughter in Iraq, and create a "service" economy that really resulted in a culture of debt and home foreclosures so that those Americans can still believe they have the purchasing power and unchecked mastery of the world that they had in the 1960's, that fueled "The American Dream".

We Americans are characterized the world over as political innocents only interested in the world if it affects our ability to buy homes, cars, gasolines, and vacation packages. This kind of thinking is a direct result of imperialism. Why should anyone really care about the world as long as my sphere of the world is doing well? That's been the American Reality of the American Dream.

[LaFilleEnRose]

Great post. But one of a few excellent ways to avoid the corporate media (NPR/News Hour PBS) is a great newspaper, Christian Science Monitor. Here's their top reviewers review today of War, Inc.

Edgy black comedy alternates with sophomoric gags " and it works.
By Peter Rainer

Political satire is always a risky business, and never more so than when the targets are close to home. "Dr. Strangelove," the greatest example of the genre, was only a slight distortion of the lunacy that surrounded the '60s nuclear-arms race. And now we have "War, Inc.," starring John Cusack as a hit man.

Set in the fictional Middle Eastern country of Turaqistan, the film is about the first entirely outsourced war. You may find the laughs catching in your throat. Director Joshua Seftel and his team of screenwriters, which includes Cusack, alternate edgy black comedy with sophomoric gags.

It's a bewildering mix of very smart and very dumb, but the cast, which also features a hilarious Joan Cusack, Ben Kingsley, Marisa Tomei, Dan Aykroyd as the Cheney-esque ex-vice president, and Hilary Duff as a Turaqistan airhead pop star, is tiptop. Grade: B.

[sophiej]

lobby your local theater to book it. that's how we got michael moore films to our community in northern california. google the theater name--if they have a website it probably has their live person or answering machine number, maybe a comments form. mail or drop off notes for the manager, talk about it to the ticket sellers.
they may be willing to book only a couple of weekend shows--better than nothing.
and then work to get a sizable audience there.

[moonglowsun]

I am looking forward to seeing this film. Although I never go to movie theaters for reasons that have nothing to do with location and everything to do with my physical discomfort, I support everyone else's right to see this film in that venue.
It just galls me when someone decides for the masses what should or should not be learned, read, viewed or heard. It is the responsibility of those who absord the message to weight it, and research it for falseness or truth. My worst nightmare is to live as a Stepford wife, robotic. And that's precisely where we are headed when someone else choses for us. Rate it, critique it but allow us to give it a thumbs up or down.

[Willl]

Enjoy War Inc.!!!!!!!!!!!

Film represents pace- change, RELIEF from our 7 plus year $BUSHCO soap opera, called government war policy making: privatization. We all support the troops, but the "deciders"" enjoy or deserve little support in there attempt to promote endless civil war. Securing Blackwater occupation, then controlling $30 Trillion in proven Iraq oil reserves: colonizing the state for the benefit of about six oil Companies, (who currently are enjoying historic levels of profit). Moreover, we can continue fueling fleets of extra large SUVs a few more years, while depreciating them as lucrative tax right offs.

Meanwhile, PRESS Censorship by substitution with pervasive trivial pursuit-factoids and celebrity crud now passes as journalism or embedded "news". Fresh viewpoints are welcome. 4-bucks a-gallon-gasoline, will seem like a bargain price in a couple years.

WIKI links to this subject for those seeking more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War,_inc
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/23/war_inc_john_cusacks_new_film
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:War,_Inc.

POLITICAL CORRUPTION AS EMBEDDED JOURNALISM seems an interesting film plot.
I look forward to Los Angeles and New York Premieres Today.

According toNation Magazine: "Cusack's "Grace Is Gone," was one of the most underrated and under-viewed movies of 2007. He should have been seriously considered for an Oscar for his portrayal of Stanley Philipps, a man whose wife dies while deployed as a soldier in Iraq."

See: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080602/scahill

[LuckyBlessed]

Thanks for the Democracy Now site!, it has great info on why we won't get Single Payer health care and a funny interchange b/w Naomi Klein and Alan Greenspan. Greenspan claims not knowing billions of dollars went missing from the Fed in a truck in hundred dollar bills and then taking it back when confronted by Klein.

[magen]

Isn't money supposed to trump everything else, including their core beliefs, when it comes to republiCONS??

Seems there's a lot of money to be made if the majority agrees with the viewpoints of this movie.

Also, how many of these studio execs and reviewers have relatives in the military? My uninformed guess would be an exact zero.

[wildflowermaven]

Larisa--I'll keep an eye out for this movie, but its not showing anywhere near where I live. If you are right, I may have to wait for the DVD. Hope those who can show that the movie has legs go out this weekend and see it.

[Larisa Alexandrovna - Huffpost Blogger]

You and others can put pressure on your local theaters by requesting that they show it. Both MSM and art-house theaters. I have done that before when I wanted to see a film that I had no access to. In the end, you may indeed be stuck with the DVD. I like watching these types of films with an audience, to see how they react and if they react the same way i do.;)

[knowhelpnow]

You can rent it from Netflex along with "Grace is gone" another wonder film by him also. I know I will. They have a great deal going on now also.

[speakingtruth2power]

It is good to see the name Lara Logan & to hear she is safe.

She was considered as a remote alternative to Katie Couric

but we know that would've been far too brave and completely

out of character, for those network 'executives' over at CBS.