When I sat down to write about “Uncovered: The War on Iraq,” I had to stop and pore over my notes and make sure I could distinguish this movie from the other anti-Bush documentaries making the rounds.
The rise of quick-to-shoot, quick-to-edit video technology has certainly made the political documentary a more immediate form. That’s part of the reason for the sudden appearance of movies such as “Outfoxed” and the upcoming “Bush’s Brain.”
“Uncovered” is directed by Robert Greenwald, who also made “Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism,” a broadside against the conservative media mogul. In the public eye, Greenwald may be standing at the knees of Michael Moore’s huge-grossing “Fahrenheit 9/11,” but he’s certainly been busy.
As opposed to Moore’s jeering comedy and shameless emotional string-pulling, Greenwald goes for a straight-ahead, talking-heads approach. The result is both a relief and a bit of a monotonous lecture.
“Uncovered” lays out Greenwald’s case against the Bush administration and its policy on Iraq. His approach is to interview a battery of experts and let them give testimony. Greenwald has been careful to corral people from around the political spectrum along with a few familiar Bush-bashers. (He missed conservative icon Patrick Buchanan, who’s been tart in his criticism.) Needless to say, the slant here is entirely negative toward the administration.
Secretary of State Colin Powell comes in for criticism from former CIA people, who find his analysis of covert information about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to be “embarrassing to those of us who know something about the business.”
Ray McGovern, who was a CIA analyst for decades, chides Powell’s statement that a “conservative estimate” put Iraq at possessing between 100 to 500 tons of chemical weapons agent. McGovern suggests this is more of a “neo-conservative estimate,” in one of the movie’s rare flashes of humor.
Vice President Dick Cheney occupies the position of mastermind string-puller and chief bottle-washer. And as for George W. Bush, well, we get to see the “Mission Accomplished” footage aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln play out in all its ambiguous glory.
On a more serious note, “Uncovered” is effective at painting a picture of a government that gears its fact-finding and information analysis to arrive at a certain result, rather than interpreting data in a cold way.
The usual caveats apply to an ideological movie such as this, just as they would to statements made at political conventions: Question them. In the meantime, “Uncovered” reminds us how an imminent threat morphed into “weapons of mass destruction-related activities.”
“Uncovered: The War on Iraq” HHH
Low-key: A battery of experts gives testimony against the Bush administration’s policy on Iraq. Director Robert Greenwald’s approach leaves aside the rabble-rousing of Michael Moore, and the talking heads can get monotonous, but he traces the morphing of WMD in “weapons of mass destruction-related activities.”
Rated: Not rated; probably PG for subject matter.
Now showing: tk
“Uncovered: The War on Iraq” HHH
Low-key: A battery of experts gives testimony against the Bush administration’s policy on Iraq. Director Robert Greenwald’s approach leaves aside the rabble-rousing of Michael Moore, and the talking heads can get monotonous, but he traces the morphing of WMD in “weapons of mass destruction-related activities.”
Rated: Not rated; probably PG for subject matter.
Now showing: Harvard Exit.
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