Hyper Thalamus Rating: 7.5 / 10.0
I took the DVD out of its little red Netflix envelope and snorted in disgust. The playing surface of the disc was covered in fingerprints, greasy smudges, and some sort of filmy liquid residue. I began to polish the silver platter with my t-shirt, and cursed the Netflix people for their failure to even check the product before shoving it in a new sleeve and jamming it back in the mail to go to the next poor sucker down the line. Then I remembered what the film was about, and realized this failure by Netflix was even worse, because they had provided erroneous off-the-subject ammunition to the type of people (if there truly are any left) who would like to continue to defend George W. Bush and all of those he has surrounded himself with and the disastrous, criminally insane series of gaffes and blunders that have led up to our current situation vis-a-vis Iraq.
I can hear it: "Would you look at the mess they made of this DVD, honey -- this is the sort of character we're dealing with -- bleeding heart liberal phonies who want to tax all my hard-earned income away and spend it on free handouts for slackers! The kind of people who roll marijuanna cigarettes on their DVD's and then use them to spread organic co-op peanut butter on their hemp toast. They have no respect for decent hard-working Americans like you and me and all of our friends, they have no respect for authority, and all they wanna do is take money for criticizing our leaders in Washington. They're all just like that fat communist creep, Michael Moore!"
Except, this movie -- "No End in Sight" -- was not made by Michael Moore. As big and as easy a target as Mr. Moore is - he had nothing to do with this particular film. Nor had he anything to do with several other films upon the same subject - all of which I intend to review over the coming weeks.
No, this movie was not made with a smirk and a nudge and wink and a poke -- "Now, watch this drive!" (har har har !!)
"No End in Sight" is infused with a grim dose of reality - something which has been lacking in American public discourse for at least 8 years now. This film relies heavily upon face-to-face interviews with a long list of high-level people who testify one after another as to their involvement with the Iraq war process, the recommendations they made to administration officials which were dismissed or ignored, and the actions taken by administration-appointed officials which were utterly counter productive to any working solutions in Iraq. The litany of bungles, missteps, and HUBRIS stampeding in bareback on top of IGNORANCE began before the declaration of war and continues to this day.
If you think you have a sense of the utter madness of this operation from watching and reading the "news," you're wrong. You're not even close. No End in Sight presents to the viewer an un-ignorable parade of VIP's involved intimately with various on-the-ground operations in Iraq - and their testimony is nothing if not entirely damning to the administration and its policies.
Among those interviewed are:
- Richard Armitage, former deputy secretary of the State Department under Colin Powell
- General Jay Garner, in charge of Iraq's reconstruction until being replaced by L. Paul Bremer
- Ambassador Barbara Bodine, who had been in charge of the Baghdad embassy
- Robert Hutchings, former chairman of the National Intelligence Council
- Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former chief of staff
- Col. Paul Hughes, who worked in the ORHA and then the CPA
If "Fahrenheit 9/11" made irresponsible, loose-cannon hints that the current administration may actually be comprised of War Criminals who Murder for Money, then "No End in Sight" unfortunately renders few other conclusions tenable. While watching this series of interviews, the phrase "They could not have done worse if they had screwed up ON PURPOSE!" should fly through your brain and out of your mouth at least 5 to 10 times.
I don't personally care where your politics may lie. For me is it utterly beside the point what your personal politics may be in relationship to this film. The professionals interviewed for No End in Sight are credible, while the story that emerges from their testimony is an incredible pile of evidence pointing to the explicit guilt of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Georgie Bush in the wanton destruction of a country and the slaughter of untold thousands so that they and a coterie of their friends can get rich.
You don't think so? Okay, I'll shut up -- but YOU -- YOU watch this film and decide for yourself.
No End in Sight
Released, July 27, 2007.
Directed by Charles H. Ferguson
Distributed by Magnolia Pictures
