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No End In Sight

Written by Nobuhiro Hosoki

 

In "No End In Sight," which received a special Jury Prize at Sundance, director Charles Furguson initially depicts the aftermath of the iraq occupation after the mission was accomplished, then he presents a history of the Iraq conflict beginning with the Gulf War waged by Bush Senior,  examining Iraq 's history and its associations with neighboring countries.

He proceeds by setting an array of talking-heads interviews with diplomats, journalists, officers, and enlisted soldiers. But key personnel stand out. Among them is Paul Hugh, director of strategic policy for ORHA (Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance), who pleaded with administration officials to declare martial law. Unfortunately the government appointee, Paul Bremer, has no history of military service, no background in reconstruction, whom later ordered 50,000 Ba'athist officials to be sent away, and an army of 500,000 disbanded, with the obvious result of no one to lead the country. And one of the overriding reasons why the U.S.A. is in this predicament is that they guarded huge ammunition dumps that were subsequently scavenged by insurgents.

Next, the CPA (coalition provisional authority) that replaced ORHA's staff members consist mostly of inexperienced college grads. At this point, Harvard economist Linda Bilmes estimated that the total cost of the war is now nearly $2 trillion. The series of mistakes are too overwhelming.

The film's narration is done by Campbell Scott, whose calm and distinct voiceover guides us through the piles of failures. To credit his political scientist approach, Furguson uses the tactic of delivering the facts and statistics with news footage of quotes and other incendiary remarks, striking the right note
throughout, making viewers feel the film is ultimately an enraging experience.

In the end, it's scary to think that the war continues to operate without a timetable, and those acts are made by a handful of men in Washington, resulting in countless death and extreme suffering.

Directed by Charles Furguson
Written by Charles Furguson
Produced by Jennie Amias, Charles Furguson, Audrey Marrs
Photographed by Antonio Rossi
Edited by Chad Beck, Cindy Lee
Released by Magnolia pictures and Red Envelop Entertainment
Running time: 102 minutes.

Narrated by Campbell Scott