No End in Sight

“There are some laughs in my film,” said Charles Ferguson introducing “No End in Sight” at a special screening on Saturday night showcasing this contender for the best documentary Oscar, “but they are unintentional and dark.” OK, “Sicko” is definitely funnier. The humor in “No End” comes in hearing Rumsfeld repeat the word “quagmire” or “victory.” In seeing W's dumb look as the film, through interviews and Baghdad footage, deconstructs the half-baked,
ill-conceived, thoughtless, self-serving policies put in place after Saddam's regime was toppled in Iraq. Careful not to take on the raison d'etre of the “war,” Ferguson examines the dismantling of an ancient country with a rich history, the looting of a library wherein irreplaceable documents dating from antiquity were burnt and destroyed. As one Iraqi put it, We have lost our identity. How can this have happened? That, of course, is the least of what everyday Iraqis experience under our on-going occupation. (Four million Iraqis remain homeless.) But you feel his pain. From the perspective of a military action, the dismantling of the Iraqi army was a turning point in fomenting a situation whereby an insurgency could thrive alongside a corrupt interim governing body. As Ferguson makes clear in the film and in a new book, our commander in chief paid little to no attention to highly detailed documents, allowed incompetent, inexperienced individuals with no knowledge of the language or culture to take charge, and could have cared less. Is the U.S.administration just a bunch of bunglers and boobs? Are the key players playing war: the video game? Do Rumsfeld and Cheney form their own axis of evil? These were some of the questions raised by a room full of movers and shakers at an after-screening dinner at the Plaza Athenee: two-time Oscar winning Barbara Kopple, newsman Gabe Pressman, and others attended to an impassioned Q&A conducted by Arianna Huffington. Jane Fonda, Amy Goodman, Erica Jong, were among the most ardent speakers.  Huffington with her hugely successful blog, Huffington Post.com was especially concerned with the media's role in the continued American malaise. While everyone agrees that a draft would have galvanized dissent, still the news failed to deliver the information that might have had people storming Washington. Amy Goodman, of Pacifica radio's “Democracy Now” suggested the media is seduced by access. Erica Jong quoted Noam Chomsky's prediction that we would not have an investigative media as independent outlets become absorbed into conglomerates. That woeful time has come. Jane Fonda's presence itself evoked her dramatic protest of the Vietnam War. Huffington took a need-I-say-more stance, invoking Dante who imagined the hottest spot in "The Inferno" reserved for those who know better and do nothing. So, what can we do? Ferguson says, “We can start by telling the truth.”
            Now Ferguson vies for an Academy Award with Michael Moore's “Sicko” and Alex Gibney's “Taxi to the Dark Side.” Moore did his Iraq film, “Fahrenheit 9/11” and won the Oscar for “Bowling for Columbine.” All three beg for responsible leadership and all should win in a three-way tie, but to choose, I say “No End in Sight” is the most profoundly resonant as a statement of this country's current historic moment. Alex Gibney served as Executive Producer on this film. I asked Ferguson how he felt competing with Gibney. “We both win if I win,” he said, “I told Alex this morning, he comes onstage to accept the award with me.”

Regina Weinreich             

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