Rethink Afghanistan

David Schiff
Film 150
Extra Credit
12/14/09




President Obama has decided to send 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan at a cost of more than $100 billion a year it is time to rethink Afghanistan. (rethinkAfghanistan.com) Rethink Afghanistan is a 2009 documentary that is divided into 6 parts about the ongoing war in Afghanistan. This full length documentary discusses military escalation, the effect on Pakistan, the high cost of war, civilian causalities, and the rights of Afghan women. Rethink Afghanistan advocates an alternative vision to the U.S. policy of sending more troops to Afghanistan. Rethink Afghanistan is directed by Robert Greenwald who also did Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers and Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. Rethink Afghanistan contains an urgent plea to write your congressman and to vote no for the escalation of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The war in Afghanistan began on October 7th, 2001 as a part of the U. S. military’s Operation Enduring Freedom in response to the attacks of September 11th, 2001.
The film students of IML 340 examined the documentary Rethink Afghanistan and using clips from it and other found footage created their own 3 minute clips. 2 of them particularly stuck in my mind, one was Auratic Axes by Tiffany Chen and a piece by Corinda Dimes that used WWII newsreels. Tiffany’s piece uses the media images and the horror of war in an unforgettable way. Tiffany defines auratic axes as referring to the blows (the ax) delivered by the aura of an image. Corinda’s piece asks the question why anyone isn’t supporting the war in Afghanistan the way Americans came together during WWII. I thought that was a very thought provoking question. The other projects that were done by the IML 340 students were all very good and made you rethink Afghanistan using images containing the horrors of war including civilian causalities and the effects of war on a country. The students also did a good job of displaying how media sensationalism can persuade the thinking of an entire nation.