Written at the time of the film's release...
Scoundrel-time
or
No End in Sight, Part $
Charles Ferguson's last documentary was No End in Sight, the very fine examination of how the militarily successful invasion of Iraq could turn into a stunningly inept (and contrary) example of nation-building. Like the handling of the Katrina aftermath, it was a case of arrogance, of sticking to what the Administration thought was going to happen (or merely wanted to), as opposed to reacting to what did happen. Ferguson used archive footage to present the timeline, devoting most of the time to interviews with witnesses, which broke down into two groups, those with boots on the ground (generally bitter and remorseful) and the idealogues (cluelessly in denial). It becomes very clear in the viewing that key decisions by officials who couldn't be bothered to go the source made very early but critical decisions from which the situation never recovered, compounded when the mistakes weren't acknowledged or denied.
Inside Job, which looks at the banking melt-down, takes a different tack. It begins with the recent economic story of Iceland, a microcosm of what happened in the United States and globally, and then once the basic principles of over-extending becomes clear, expands the scope to take on the massive task of explaining the intricacies of the U.S. disaster and its subsequent bail-out.
The difference in this one is the talking heads (and I'm being kind using that particular part of the anatomy). Yes, there are interviews with international bankers who have an objective view, plus writers for financial publications who looked at the situation with a reporters's overview. So many of the interviewees, though, are U.S. financial advisers, many of whom either benefited from the crisis—through bonuses or receiving cushy jobs in other financial sectors—or had a hand in causing it. Their interviews are examples of arrogance in action, dodging their responsibility, dodging the camera ("Can we turn that off?" asks one of the camera), or getting suddenly pissy when Ferguson dares to ask pointed questions ("You have three minutes," says one of Bush's financial architects. "Give it your best shot." I'm only surprised that he didn't say "Bring it on.").
None of these guys were elected by us, and yet, their actions have affected all of our lives—all of ours. They screwed up, and yet they are still in business, still profiting, and there is nothing we can do about it. Except make our voices heard in protest (to which these Masters of the Universe react with hurt feelings, releasing their statements of outrage from the multiple houses they are in no danger of losing*). There are no investigations into their mis-deeds because so many are still deeply embedded in the very government that should be running those inquiries. Many of them, as Inside Job points out, are hiding in the ivory towers of financial academia, ensuring that their ideas are carried on to future Masters. Think they're teaching any ethics classes? Probably not. The priority is crunching numbers...and lives.
It's depressing stuff. There was a lot of disgruntled grumbling as viewers filed out of the theater (it was a full house, which was encouraging), but no cries for revolution, no pitch-forks, and probably, at home, no mattresses stuffed with cash. People are still "gruntled" enough to trust the situation...and business to people who protest that they know what they're doing (and we can't), but so obviously screwed up, greedily driving the car as fast as it would go so close to the cliff's edge. And they fight mightily if someone wants to include any kind of brake in the vehicle.
It is funny, now, to hear so many people upset about taxing the upper 1% of American earners bleating into their golden microphones that this is (horrors!) "class warfare." Yes, it is. But that war was started years ago against the middle-class, the american people in general and the nation. These weasels, after drawing first blood, just don't want anybody to fight back.
2019 Update:
Inside Job won the 2013 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
And no one has gone to jail.
* I saw Inside Job the week after George W. Bush made his promotional book-tour on the talk-shows bitching that the worst thing that happened to him during the Administration was being called "a racist" by Kanye West. He got off easy during his tenure...so many American did not. It's good to be the King.
September 11, 2001. Eighteen years ago today. We started the war in Iraq on September 26, 2001. We are still there eighteen years later. This year, 20 U.S. soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, 11 in Iraq (By contrast, the Soviet Union pulled out after nine years of their Afghan war). More than likely, we'll be there next 9-11 anniversary well. We should always remember 9-11. We should also remember we are still fighting wars over it and the sacrifice of the men and women who have fought there...and continue to fight there...with no end if sight. Maybe we should remember this first.
This was written at the time of the film's release...in 2007. That was 12 years...and three presidents...ago.
"There are 500 ways of doing it wrong, and only 2 or 3 ways of doing it right. Little did we know we'd have to go through all 500 ways."
Charles Ferguson's comprehensive dissection of the Iraq War is as clinical as an autopsy—and just as much fun. It's the only movie in memory that has the bodyguards and security force listed in both the front and end credits. Using news footage from a variety of sources and interviews with a comprehensive number of people who had boots in the sand (but only one of the decision makers who had their heads there), Ferguson precisely points to the errors made by the bureaucrats in the Bush administration, who made up their minds before they had the facts, and then cherry-picked the ones (however few) that skewed with their assumptions. It's a pattern that has represented this administration from...well, probably from its inception. Rather than look at the facts and draw conclusions (what's called the "scientific" method), these officials use an Academic approach, the lawyer's approach, the PR approach, and sift the facts that much their presumptions. Then to sell it, they spin it with homilies from the glib ("stuff happens!") to the ignorant ("there is no insurgency in Iraq, but there is a high degree of domestic violence") when the results are not what they expected. And the people in charge of carrying out these pipe-dreams are the bureaucrats and neophytes who are owed a favor, and under-perform in times of crisis.
And when they resign under a cloud, they get a medal.
One gets more than a sense of blundering from No End in Sight, one gets a sense of the arrogance in the face of incompetence, and lays blame on four individuals, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice, with able assistance from Paul Wolfowitz, none of whom served in the military, but asked that military to do the impossible while tying their hands.
The interviews are culled from both the U.S. and Iraq, reporters, military, active and retired, grunts and advisers, the haunted looks on their faces and the barely-contained disgust in their tones speak volumes of how success was constantly foiled by the decisions of the Bush administration and its cronies who seemed determined to follow the least effective, most destructive, most expensive path, leaving Iraq with sporadic electricity, water every other day, cities in ruin and a populace half of which is unemployed due to American actions, and the other half subject to violence and the constant threat of kidnapping and desperate to find a solution—any solution. In this chaos, with a void in leadership, the desire for a strong leader is seen in the fundamentalist clergy, who seem destined to be the next elected leaders and the enemies of the U.S.
"I don't "do" quagmires," says Rumsfeld (twice) in the film. Wrong again. He does them exceedingly well.
No End in Sight is a must-see, because it goes beneath the headlines that have hardly explained the war to the American public. And it goes a long way in explaining how corruption of the political system can lead to high levels of incompetence, as has been seen with both Iraq and New Orleans. And it does so without any snarky sarcasm, or cheap shots (at least none that aren't provided by the Administration's own words and actions). But there's no audience for the information. In the huge auditorium where I saw the film, there were only two people: me, and another guy.
You can also watch the film...for free...at this address: https://tubitv.com/movies/461858/no_end_in_sight
