An Iraq documentary with a unique perspective, Friday

Feature: No End In Sight

When: Friday, July 25, 7:30 pm

Where: Methodist Sanctuary,  777 Miramontes, Half Moon Bay (Corner of Johnston & Miramontes)

Donation: $6.00  


The Coastside Film Society will be screening a documentary about the Iraq war that caught them by surprise. According to Joe Devlin, Film Society board member, "when the film was first recommended to us our initial inclination was to say ‘No thanks, we try to veer away from political films’.

"No End in Sight did not turn out to the be film we assumed it would be. We expected a bombastic polemic featuring interviews with Cindy Sheehan and her cohort. Instead we found film featuring introspective interviews with former Bush administration officials who talk frankly about mistakes made and opportunities missed." 

This approach has won the film almost universal accolades and the "Special Jury Prize" at the Sundance Film Festival. 

Mick LaSalle, of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "No End in Sight" is the most cool headed of the Iraq war documentaries, the most methodical and the least polemical."

Wesley Morris, of the Boston Globe agrees,  "A raft of documentaries have come along since the start of the war, some of them accusatory, some investigative, some empathetic, nearly all of them skeptical. No film about the subject is better argued or more searing than "No End in Sight."  The film lacks the overt sensationalism of most of its competition, and never becomes a starchy piece of nonfiction. Ferguson surrounds himself with some excellent technicians who transform this rookie director’s impressive leap into journalism (Ferguson is an Internet millionaire) into a damning political thriller."

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said, "This is not a documentary filled with anti-war activists or sitting ducks for Michael Moore. Most of the people in the film had top government or military jobs in the Bush administration. They had responsibility in Iraq or Washington, they implemented policy, they filed reports, they labored faithfully in service of U.S. foreign policy and then they left the government. Some jumped, some were pushed. They all feel disillusioned about the war and the way the White House refused to listen to them about it."

Richard Kirchner, who brought the film to the attention of the Film Society will introduce the film and lead the post screening discussion.  With luck, it will foster a lively dialog. (br>

For more information, see www.hmbfilm.org