No End In Sight
Control Room
I watched No End in Sight because I had just seen Control Room. Both are documentaries that act very activist and both cover roughly the same events but from two very different perspectives. Both films present a perspective that is very specific and well crafted. Films like these serve a very important role in looking at some of the angles that may have been overlooked. The problem I find is in a very obviously missing point of view. The “they refused to comment” card is kind of a cheap play. No one in his or her right mind would comment in “exposing” documentary. No matter what they say they will be damned.
The problem with both films is that they focus on one perspective. For that reason, I was glad to watch them side-by-side. Control Room comes off as a somewhat malicious, “We blame the Americans for everything, oh man what have you done!?” Where as No End in Sight was very much a, “I told you so, only I didn’t, but I thought it!” I think that there were very big mistakes that were made with this war. However I don’t agree with this trend of dispersing the blame and responsibility. These films look at how bad the war is going and say, “Why did THEY get us into this?” “They” is always someone else. We forget the surging public support for war in September of 2001. For a while there we berating France for being more hesitant to join in with us. The American public was very much involved in this pro-war effort. It is a very unhealthy attitude that our country has towards its self these days.
It is pretty clear that there are multiple factors that have caused the chaos since. The right experience wasn’t applied to the right jobs. There was little on ground help for soldiers. They didn’t have translators when needed. There was little collaboration with the local authorities who, according to Control Room, were anxiously waiting to help. Iraq is in no way exempt. They have a very real responsibility to their country and should have pulled some weight. There are many things that the US did very badly that has led to a longer and more destructive war.
Mark Twain said, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” I think that this holds very strong here. These films are very opinionated. On one hand they are doing just that, trying to make the audience pause and reflect on the situation. I wonder though if by doing so, we’ve created a new majority. One in which we blindly assume that all politicians are white, bumbling, and senile men with death in their hearts. We discount all opinions as manipulative rubbish unless it is the negative, accusatory one. At one point in the film I paused the screen and called Adam over.
“Who is this guy? I hate him.”
“Oh I read his biography, his side is very interesting. They (No End in Sight) are pretty cruel to him.” It is pretty evident that this guy was, at the very least, extremely insensitive in his public remarks and truly deserves the public slap in the face these two films bring. Hate, however is not a well-balanced and analytical response one should have when trying to find solutions.
I acknowledge that my perspective is one from the safe side of the war. That and I have revealed myself as one who has little patience for anything showing a single opinion. In such circumstances I find myself immediately seeking value or explanation from the other end. I may be defending a perspective that is somewhat undeserving. Bureaucracy, corruption, death, and pride are all very real and should be aggressively checked and balanced. It may be that that is exactly what the filmmakers are trying to do here. The thing we need to remember is that activist films are often very political, very well crafted to make you feel strongly about something. This isn’t entirely bad, but it is manipulative.
