I am not a fan of the Michael Moore-style, cheap shot, slanted documentary disguised as a benevolent humanitarian effort. That Moore would even suggest that one of his films is nonpartisan is laughable.
And so, by definition, it might be assumed that a film that is critical of the war in Iraq is a Bush-bashing film.
What I loved the most about No End in Sight is that filmmaker Charles Ferguson sidesteps the Bush-bashing and, in some ways, makes him guilty by association. Instead, he goes after the guys appointed by the Bush administration.
I think it is more fair to hold Bush to task for trusting the wrong advice or believing in the wrong people. I think it's fair to call him on his military inexperience and it's even fair to accuse him of avenging his father to some extent. But whereas most other anti-Iraq war coverage paints Bush out to be this power-hungry monster, No End in Sight has its sights set on a bigger prize.
This is, truly, a non-partisan documentary. It allows us glimpses of combat that the American public has been censored from seeing. It pinpoints exact moments where things got off course and doesn't waste time on how we got a war with Iraq over being attacked by Al Queda, though it doesn't let the administration off the hook for that, either (and it shouldn't).
Knowing full well that the people you'd really like to hear from wouldn't sit down for an interview, we instead get to hear from a number of players in the conflict who's faces most of us have never seen, from soldiers on the ground to top government officials assigned to running Iraq in the days after the take-over.
No End in Sight works because we don't feel manipulated. Campbell Scott's narration is somber but not cloying. And the footage doesn't seem to be edited for maximum impact. No shots of Bush playing golf and laughing (okay...maybe one clip of Rumsfeld laughing, but he deserves it). An eye-opening, non-partisan, and important look at what we're dealing with.
4.0 out of 4
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