A view of the U.S. war machine sure to shake the right and left alike

If Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 failed to bridge the ideological chasm between red states and blue, essentially preaching to the choir in its indictment of the Bush administration, Eugene Jarecki's Why We Fight is a far more measured and profoundly scary film.

It's impossible to imagine anyone, right-leaning or left, coming away from this hugely important documentary unshaken by its representation of the United States and its military establishment.

Using President Dwight D. Eisenhower's famous 1961 farewell address as its centerpiece, Why We Fight is less an exercise in political finger-pointing - or activist filmmaking - than it is a sobering history lesson.

One of the central themes of this riveting documentary is that after Eisenhower, every presidential administration, from Kennedy to Bush, has found a reason, and a need, to send its troops into combat. What Eisenhower, the general turned president, cautioned the nation about in his speech - the rise of the "military-industrial complex" and its threats to the democratic process - has become, the film posits, a prophecy realized.

Jarecki, who made The Trials of Henry Kissinger (and whose brother is behind the super-troubling documentary Capturing the Friedmans), has assembled a disparate group of insiders and outsiders for his post-9/11 analysis.

Two stealth bomber pilots who dropped "smart bombs" on Baghdad at the outset of the war are interviewed; so too, are Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), the defense expert Richard Perle, and the conservative Weekly Standard editor (and Bob Woodward look-alike!) William Kristol.

Karen Kwiatkowski, a career Air Force officer who worked on the Pentagon's Iraq Desk, is shown on her Virginia horse farm, retired from the military and questioning the intelligence that led to the invasion of Iraq, and the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

Anh Duong, a Vietnamese who left Saigon in 1975 and is now an American citizen, speaks proudly of her work designing bombs for the U.S. Navy. She sees her job as a chance to repay the "American warfighters" who rescued her as a child.

But the two most startling, and telling, portraits to emerge from this expertly crafted film are of Vietnam vet and retired New York City cop Wilton Sekzer and William Solomon, a New York high school graduate who enlists with the Army.

Sekzer lost his son in the World Trade Center attacks and speaks of his deep urge to avenge the loss.

Solomon, grappling with financial hardship and the death of his mother, hears the recruiters' promise of a job piloting helicopters and signs up. He feels he has little choice.

Why We Fight is about what Jarecki terms "the perils of empire" - what George Washington saw as the inherent danger in maintaining "standing armies." It is about the revolving door between government officials and defense contractors, about public policy being set by private consortiums, about the politicians who decide to go to war and the soldiers - and sailors and pilots - who do the going.

George Santayana's famous saying - "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" - has especially chilling resonance in the context of this eye-opening film.

Contact movie critic Steven Rea at 215-854-5629 or srea@phillynews.com.

Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/stevenrea.

Why We Fight **** (out of four stars)

Produced by Eugene Jarecki and Susannah Shipman, directed by Jarecki, photography by Etienne Sauret, music by Robert Miller, distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. With Wilton Sekzer, Karen Kwiatkowski, Sen. John McCain, Anh Duong and others.

Running time: 1 hour, 38 mins.

Parent's guide: Not rated (adult themes, images of war)

Playing at: Ritz East and Ritz Sixteen/NJ