Media Education Foundation: War Made Easy


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Reviews and Comments

"One of the clearest and most effective films on the Iraq War to date."
FilmForward.com

"A superb visual form of investigative journalism. It chillingly exposes government officials who have used deception to send our young men and women into the hell of war, and who have condemned innocent families in the Middle East to death. But more, it investigates journalism itself, documenting the collusion of the national media with the warmakers, and thus alerting us to the betrayal of democracy."
Howard Zinn | author of A People's History of the United States

"Highly Recommended"
Library Journal

"Sobering and more than a little scary..."
The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Packed with archival footage and newsclips... skilfully edited."
Booklist

“Compelling... A keen analysis of how war has been made easy by well-oiled propaganda techniques.”
BuzzFlash.com

"a powerful construction of information and complicated questioning that is critical to understanding the current Iraq conflict and previous combat situations."
FilmJerk.com

"Damning"
Variety

"Searing"
San Francisco Chronicle

"chilling and persuasive"
Katrina Vanden Heuvel, The Nation

"Compelling"
Montreal Gazette

"...goes further than most recent documentaries on the current Iraq war by not merely looking at Bush Administration mismanagement or avarice, but also examining propaganda that the U.S. military and government repeatedly use."
Ben Terrall | Dissident Voice

John Griffin of the Montreal Gazette names War Made Easy one of the top documentaries of 2007

“damning…”
Cleveland Plain Dealer

“telling and terrific”
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

“an unsettling documentary”
The Providence Journal

“…demonstrates that democracy, which depends on an informed public, has been ill served.”
Shepard Express (Milwaukee)

“this DVD inches us ever closer to the harrowing truth about 9.11 and the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq”
Weekly Dig (Boston)

“The documentary is fascinating on its own, or as a companion piece to media critic Norman Solomon’s 2005 book of the same name. Regardless of one's political stance, War Made Easy is highly recommended viewing.…”
DVD Talk

“a cinematic essay, a simple and pointed piece with a compelling argument…”
MSN.com

“…not easily forgotten.”
DVD Town

“Compelling…a bucket of ice water to the face in an attempt to wake up an unsuspecting public.”
DVD Verdict

“unflinching”
EDGE.com

“This DVD may well re-write history.”
Popsyndicate

“…a tightly constructed and absorbing survey.”
Video Business

“…it’s a good time to be watching a film like this and ask ourselves what we should be asking our leaders and whom we should believe.”
Home Media Magazine

"War Made Easy is an excellent, but boldly partisan work. The evidence is compelling and well researched. This film is recommended to anyone wishing to examine the relationship between media and politics, or the American media culture in general."
Educational Media Reviews Online

Praise for the book

"Norman Solomon has been exploring the hard questions for thirty years, asking in particular, why our media serves us so poorly in making sense of the choices we face. War Made Easy looks at the lies we tell ourselves as we annihilate life and liberty and call it freedom."
Paul Rogat Loeb | editor of The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear

"Solomon's timely analysis, which continues through the current war in Iraq, provides the public, analysts, and journalists with useful tips on how to evaluate the prewar messages of any administration, current or historical. Of interest to both public and academic libraries."
Judy Solberg | Library Journal

"An engaging book that helps explain how the myth-making machine works."
The Texas Observer

"Brutally persuasive...a must-read for those who would like greater context with their bitter morning coffee, or to arm themselves for the debates about Iraq that are still to come."
Los Angeles Times

"Norman Solomon is one of the bravest and best American journalists, especially when he is dissecting the topics of war and the media. War Made Easy exposes and explains the lies and deceptions that have misled our nation into vile and bloody disasters from Vietnam to El Salvador to Iraq; it reveals the frequent cowardice and culpability of the US media that often behaves as a propaganda arm of the Pentagon. War Made Easy is a sobering and essential book that Americans should read, share, and discuss."
John Stauber | co-author of Weapons of Mass Deception and Banana Republicans

"America's mainstream media didn't launch the war on Iraq, but the Bush administration sure couldn't have waged it without them. The great lesson of War Made Easy is that, alas, such journalistic malfeasance is nothing new; our media have a history of enabling Washington's foreign misadventures. Perhaps if enough people read--and act on--this book, it won't be so easy next time."
Mark Hertsgaard | journalist and author of On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency

War Made Easy
How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death
Featuring Norman Solomon
Narrated by Sean Penn
(2007)

View the trailer for this film on You Tube! Click Here

In this section:
Summary
Logistical Information
Biographical Summary
Reviews and Comments
Screenings and Festivals
Articles

Summary:

War Made Easy brings to the screen Norman Solomon's insightful analysis of the strategies used by administrations, both Democratic and Republican, to promote their agendas for war from Vietnam to Iraq. By familiarizing viewers with the techniques of war propaganda, War Made Easy encourages viewers to think critically about the messages put out by today's spin doctors - messages which are designed to promote and prolong a policy of militarism under the guise of the "war on terror." Based on the book by the same title.

Film website: www.WarMadeEasyTheMovie.org

Logistical Information:

Duration 72 minutes

Directed & Written by: Loretta Alper & Jeremy Earp
Produced by: Loretta Alper
Co-produced & Edited by: Andrew Killoy
Executive Producers:Jeremy Earp & Sut Jhally
Associate Producer: Jason Young
Sound: Peter Acker, Armadillo Media Group
Motion Graphics: Andrew Killoy and Sweet & Fizzy
Additional Music: John van Eps and Leigh Philips
Narrated by: Sean Penn
Based on the book by Norman Solomon

Biographical Summary:

Norman Solomon is a nationally syndicated columnist on media and politics. He is the founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, a national consortium of policy researchers and analysts. His columns have appeared in such publications as the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and USA Today. Solomon has appeared on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and CSPAN's Washington Journal and Book TV, and has been a guest on various National Public Radio programs. His last book, Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn’t Tell You, has been translated into German, Italian, Hungarian, and Korean.

Screenings and Festivals:

SAN FRANCISCO: August & September 2007. Roxie Cinema.

MONTREAL: August 2007. Montreal World Film Festival.

VANCOUVER: September 29 & October 10, 2007. Vancouver International Film Festival.

NORTHAMPTON, MA: September 28, 2007. The Academy of Music, 7:30 pm. Q & A with Norman Solomon and Loretta Alper to follow.

AUSTIN: October 24, 2007. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

ALBUQUERQUE: October 27 & 28, 2007. Guild Cinema.

NORTHAMPTON, MA: November 2007. Northampton Independent Film Festival.

AMSTERDAM: November 22 - December 2, 2007. International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.

SEATTLE: January 11 - 17, 2008. Northwest Film Forum.
Held over through January 20!

MUMBAI: February 3 - 9, 2008. Mumbai International Film Festival.

NEW YORK CITY: Opening March 14, 2008. The Quad Cinema. Held over until March 27th!

FORT LAUDERDALE: March 24 - 25, 2008. Cinema Paradiso.

SAN FRANCISCO: March 24 - 25, 2008. Red Vic Movie House. Click here for more info.

SLOVENIA: March 26 - April 2, 2008. Ljubljana International Film Festival.

PARIS: March 2008. International Human Rights Film Festival.

HEREFORD, UK: April 2008. Guerilla Cinema.

SOUTH AFRICA: August & September 2008. Tri Contintental Film Festival.

TRAVERSE CITY, MI: August 11, 2008. The State Theater. Click here for more info.

BRUSSELS: October 2008. Festival of Liberties.

MILAN: September 2008. Milano Film Festival.

Click Here for more screenings.

Articles:

JEFF COHEN'S SHORTLIST
Media Rights | June 11, 2008

WAR MADE EASY | Norman Solomon
Truthout | May 6, 2008

IN HONOR OF THE LYING MILITARY ANALYSTS FOR CABLE TV | John Amato
Crooks and Liars | April 22, 2008

DVD REVIEWS | Gary Dretzka
Movie City News | April 15, 2008

YESTERDAY'S PAPERS | Samantha Campos
Pacific Sun | April 11, 2008

EASY AS PIE | Michael Janusonis
The Providence Journal | March 28, 2008

WAR MADE EASY | Ryan Scott
PopMatters | March 26, 2008

BOTTOM LINE: MAKES ITS TIMELY ARGUMENTS WITH PASSION AND CONVICTION | Frank Scheck
The Hollywood Reporter | March 19, 2008

PENN'S WAR: MEDIA LAP DOGS BACKED IRAQ MESS | Susan Donaldson James
ABC News | March 19, 2008

WAR MADE EASY | John Linn
New Times Broward-Palm Beach | March 24, 2008

SPINNING CONFLICT | Jeannette Catasoulis
New York Times | March 14, 2008

WAR MADE EASY
The NYC Movie Guru | March 14, 2008

WAR MADE EASY | The L Magazine

FILM REVIEW | Frederic Brussat & Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality & Practice | March 2008

WAR MADE EASY | V.A. Musetto
New York Post | March 14, 2008

WAR MADE EASY | Louis Proyect
Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist | March 14, 2008

WAR MADE EASY | Dustin L. Nelson
Film-Forward.com | March 14, 2008

WAR MADE EASY | Mina Hochberg
AM New York | March 13, 2008

WAR MADE EASY REVIEW | Ken Fox
TV Guide | March 2008

WAR MADE EASY DEFERRING TO MEDIA CRITICISM | Williams Cole The Brooklyn Rail | March 2008

MOVIE REVIEW | Mark Holcomb
Time Out New York | March 13, 2008

SEAN PENN NARRATES EXPOSE OF MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX | Kam Williams
The Sly Fox | March 12, 2008

WAR MADE EASY'S NOPARTISAN IRAQ-WAR SKEWERING | Aaron Hillis
Village Voice | March 11, 2008

WAR MADE EASY | Bill Weber
Slant Magazine | March 11, 2008

A WINNING ARGUMENT: LORETTA ALPER AND JEREMY EARP'S WAR MADE EASY| Michael Joshua Rowin
IndieWIRE | March 9, 2008

WAR MADE EASY | Dennis Dermody
Papermag.com | March 1, 2008

WAR MADE EASY REVIEW | Ed Grant
Video Business | February 18, 2008

WAR MADE EASY | Judge Daniel MacDonald
DVD Verdict | February 14, 2008

DVD TALK REVIEW | Chris Neilson
DVD Talk | January 28, 2008

WAR MADE EASY | Harvey Karten
CompuServe | January 24, 2008

THE MARKETING PLAN FOR WAR | Jeff Shannon
Seattle Times | January 11, 2008

LIMITED MOVIE RUNS | Sean Axmaker
Seattle P.I. | January 10, 2008

WAR MADE EASY: OR, HOW BUSH SNOOKERED BIG MEDIA
Seattle Weekly | January 9, 2008 | Caroline Palmer

WAR MADE EASY (Review in Dutch) | Peter Teffer
NRC-Handelsblad | November 24, 2007

A PRIMER ON TRICKS LEADING US INTO WAR | Steven Rea
The Philadelphia Inquirer | November 21, 2007

WAR FEVER: WHY HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF | Leigh Zaleski
Philadelphia Daily News | November 21, 2007

WAR MADE EASY | Ben Terrall
Dissident Voice | November 19, 2007

POLITICIANS, MEDIA DON'T LET FACTS GET IN WAY OF A GOOD WAR
Montreal Gazette | November 16, 2007 | John Griffin

SELLING THE WAR(S) | Marc Mohan
The Oregonian | November 16, 2007

MOVIE REVIEW: WAR MADE EASY | Joan K. Widdifield
Movie Magazine International | October 24, 2007

MOVIE REVIEW: WAR MADE EASY | Brian Orndorf
eFilmCritic.com | October 19, 2007

MOVIE REVIEWS | Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune | October 4, 2007

VIFF FILM PREVIEW | Grimm Culhane
Abort Magazine | September 24, 2007

IT DIDN'T START WITH IRAQ | Robert Jensen
ZNet | September 14, 2007

MOVIE REVIEW | Richard von Busack
Metroactive | September 12, 2007

SEARING DOCUMENTARY ON WAR COMPLICITY INDICTS NOT JUST U.S. POLITICOS, BUT MAJOR MEDIA, TOO | Bill Brownstein
The Montreal Gazette | August 26, 2007

FILM CLIPS | Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle | August 24, 2007

LA PROPAGANDE DE GUEURRE PASSEE AU CRIBLE PAR UN AMERICAIN | Jooneed Khan
La Presse | August 24, 2007

"WAR MADE EASY" MAKES EASY VIEWING | Christina Davidson
IraqSlogger.com | August 14, 2007

WAR MADE EASY | Dennis Harvey
Variety | August 13, 2007

MIGHT MAKES WRONG | Dennis Harvey and Johnny Ray Huston
San Francisco Bay Guardian | August 8, 2007

LIES AND MEDIA COMPLACENCY, NOTHING NEW IN WASHINGTON
Independent Media Center | August 7, 2007 | Fernando A. Torres

A BLURRY LINE BETWEEN PROPAGANDA AND NEWS | Khody Akhavi
Interpress Service | July 27, 2007

WAR MADE EASY AT THE CREST | Sam McManis
The Sacramento Bee | July 16, 2007

MEDIA MATTERS WITH BOB MCCHESNEY
July 15, 2007

CHALLENGE THE MEDIA WAR SPIN WITH "WAR MADE EASY"
The Huffington Post | July 14, 2007 | Robert Naiman

WAR MADE EASY | Adam Howard
AlterNet | July 11, 2007

THE FIGHT CLUB | Steven G. Kellman
San Antonio Current | June 26, 2007

MENTIRAS Y SANGRE
Semana.com | June 23, 2007

MARCHING OFF TO MADNESS
Common Sense Magazine | June 2007

WAR OPPOSITION MADE EASY | David Swanson
AfterDowningStreet.org | June 10, 2007

ANTIWAR MOVIES ARE A GROWTH INDUSTRY | Hamilton Nolan
The Cycle blog @ PRWeek.com | May 15, 2007

ROTTEN TOMATOES