Review: No End in Sight

No End In Sight (2007)

Directed by: Charles Ferguson (Documentary)

Synopsis (Rotten Tomatoes): The first film of its kind to chronicle the reasons behind Iraq’s descent into guerilla war, warlord rule, criminality and anarchy, NO END IN SIGHT is a jaw-dropping, insider’s tale of wholesale incompetence, recklessness and venality. Based on over 200 hours of footage, the film provides a candid retelling of the events following the fall of Baghdad in 2003 by high ranking officials such as former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Ambassador Barbara Bodine (in charge of Baghdad during the Spring of 2003), Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell, and General Jay Garner (in charge of the occupation of Iraq through May 2003), as well as Iraqi civilians, American soldiers and prominent analysts. NO END IN SIGHT examines the manner in which the principal errors of U.S. policy – the use of insufficient troop levels, allowing the looting of Baghdad, the purging of professionals from the Iraqi government and the disbanding of the Iraqi military – largely created the insurgency

Impressions that I get: Well I'm proud to say that the first documentary I review is not a brainchild of Michael Moore. Not that I have anything against Michael Moore,after all he is the pioneer of the genre and a true artist. I just feel as if his name is the only name associated with political documentaries, when we should be doing just the opposite by hearing a wide variety of opinions from a selection of filmmakers. Which is exactly what I did when I went out and found "No End in Sight". It might remind some of "Farenheit 9/11" due to its strong bashing of the way the Bush Administration handled the Iraq War. However, I believe that this documentary stands above "Farenheit 9/11" becuase it doesn't have the obvious sense of an agenda that Farenheit did (Moore clearly wanted to prevent George Bush from being re-eleceted in 2004, not that that was a bad purpose or anything..). This film was many years in the making and arrived at conclusions that were not post-huc, but rather well thought out and perfectly logical due to the ethos of the interviewees(many were serious insiders of the Iraq War/ Bush Administration) and the overall presentation of Bush/Rumsfeld/Cheney as being obviously clueless about the long term impact of their Iraq invasion. This does not have the feel of a liberal yuppie quacking about "peace and love" and why wars should never ever be fought, but rather a highly intelligent critic who has taken careful time to look at all of the facts on the table and, yet, can still not believe how poorly handled the entire Iraq conflict is.

The overall impact of this film is rather unsettling becuase it points to the futility of so many innocent American and Iraqi deaths that were all in the name of terrible management by an administration that rushed into a war that it had no idea how to solve after the easy part was over. The key fact that Fegurson is trying to get across is that the Iraqi insurgancy was not some random occurance, but rather a direct result of Mr. Bremer's irresponsible decesion to not listen to expert advice, put inexpereiced newbies in control of extremly important tasks, destablize the standing government, and to disband the entire Iraqi army when the evidence was clear that it would be a diastorous idea. To be fair though, the situation in Iraq has stabilized due to the much needed surge of troops and a new Secretary of Defense in Robert Gates, among many factors. But even though there is no longer "no end in sight", this is still an extremly important film to watch because those "who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it." Hopefully, we never have to find ourselves putting American soldiers and innocent civilians in harms way for something that is not absolutely necceserry or unavoidable.

Well, it's kind of hard for me to do a traditional movie review becuase this was a highly serious documentary that focused on logical analysis and conclusions, although it was presentated with lots of great Iraq/archival footage and was never a bore for the eyes. Overall, I would recommend that you go see this film and judge for yourself whether you think Mr. Ferguson's claim is strong or not. But don't just write it off becuase you are sick of hearing anti-Bush Administration stories. This is a highly qualified film that deserves, at the least, the attention of every American for a few hours. After all, knowledge is power and that can set you free.- AT

Grade: If I had to, I'd give it an A