War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death

Media Education Foundation, 2007 Colour
Dir. Loretta Alper and Jeremy Earp
Narrated by Sean Penn
Approx. 72 minutes | English subtitles
www.warmadeeasy.org

Click here for the WAM review

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.

The Mark of Cain


Red Production Company / Film Four, 2007
Writer: Tony Marchant
Producer: Lynn Horsford
Director: Marc Munden
Click here for the WAM review essay

SYNOPSIS:
WAYNE GULLIVER and MARK TATE - nickname 'Treacle' - are two ordinary 18 year-olds serving in the British Army in Iraq. Their platoon is struggling to maintain the uneasy peace of 2003. When their popular company captain, GODBER, is killed on patrol by a roadside bomb, morale in the platoon hits rock bottom. Acting on orders they round up several suspects from house-to-house searches. That night feelings at the camp are running high and as the chain of command is weakened and events spiral out of control. The lads end their tour of duty and return to England full of stories but also shaken by their experiences. Iraq comes back to haunt them when Wayne's jilted girlfriend, Shelley, decides to get her own back on him by giving photos of the events in Iraq to the British police. The story hits the press, and Wayne and Treacle, now the most reviled men in Britain, face court martial. The army claims Wayne and Treacle are 'rotten apples' acting alone. Guilt-ridden and abandoned, the pressure is too much for a traumatized Treacle. Wayne, however, is determined to remain loyal to 'his army'. Only when he is truly alone does he have to decide if he must keep his secrets or explosively have his day in court, and tell the truth about the events of that fateful night.

• An accessible overview of peace journalism and conflict analysis
• Two versions of a report about a suicide bombing in Jerusalem - one 'War Journalism', the other 'Peace Journalism'
• Over 36 interview clips with commentary
• Teaching Notes, with case studies, exercises, discussion topics and questions.