makes its timely arguments with passion and conviction.
War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:17
Fresh:15
Rotten:2
Average Rating:7.4/10
Theatrical Release:2007
Synopsis:
War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to...
War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq. Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film exhumes remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations.
War Made Easy gives special attention to parallels between the Vietnam war and the war in Iraq. Guided by media critic Norman Solomon’s meticulous research and tough-minded analysis, the film presents disturbing examples of propaganda and media complicity from the present alongside rare footage of political leaders and leading journalists from the past, including Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, dissident Senator Wayne Morse, and news correspondents Walter Cronkite and Morley Safer.
Norman Solomon’s work has been praised by the Los Angeles Times as “brutally persuasive” and essential “for those who would like greater context with their bitter morning coffee.” This film now offers a chance to see that context on the screen.
--© Official Site
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Starring: Norman Solomon
Starring: Norman Solomon
Director: Loretta Alper, Jeremy Earp
Director: Loretta Alper, Jeremy Earp
Producer: Loretta Alper
Composer: Leigh Phillips, John Van Eps
Studio: Media Education Foundation
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Release:
Mar 25, 2008
Reviews for War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep...
A hard-hitting documentary against the madness of war and the failure of journalists to speak truth to power.
At only 73 minutes, the documentary is nowhere as detailed as Solomon's invaluable book but see it anyway, and don't get fooled again.
Penetrating study of how the news media allowed themselves to be used as war propagandists in the run-up to the war in Iraq.
War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death is a depressing look at political manipulation and news media compliance.
The doc is sobering, straightforward, and a bit drab, but to the participants' credit, it's also an entirely nonpartisan endeavor.
War Made Easy contributes a significant argument and does a good enough job in a limited way.
The arguments seem worth considering and the film makes for provocative viewing.
If you're a news junkie, you'll find nothing new: if not, this nicely-edited and eminently watchable doc will open your eyes.
No distractions, no theatrics, no colorful personalities, just an efficiently produced documentary with a simple, direct and compelling argument.
Makes a strong case that when it comes to military action, the American public has been deceived by presidents from Lyndon Johnson on down the line to the current occupant of the White House.
War Made Easy is an engrossing bit of finger-pointing, ushering in another fascinating shade to the world's current woes, not to mention a devastating portrait of fallacy that grows stronger by the gunshot.
While the film is intensely skeptical of the power elite, it has a refreshing faith in democracy.
Overlapping with other recent docus, pic nonetheless presents a stimulating argument.
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