Alameda: War Made Easy Screening

Alameda Peace Network and Joseph Woodard Multimedia will be hosting a screening of Norman Solomon’s film, “War Made Easy”, narrated by Sean Penn, on September 22, 2007 at 7 p.m. at Buena Vista United Methodist Church, 2311 Buena Vista (between Oak and Park) in Alameda. The screening is a benefit for Alamada Peace Network. For information contact Julie Rufo at jrufo [at] sbcglobal.net or go to: http://WarMadeEasy.bravenewtheaters.com/screening/show/9772

Grassroots screenings, such as this one, says Solomon, offer people ways to see the film--and, perhaps even more important, help spark a dialogue between activists. "The most common reactions to the film have been feelings of grief and anger, as well as a heightened resolve to end this war and to prevent future ones," said Solomon. A recent screening in California, for example, prompted discussions on how to advance legislation to call for bringing California National Guardsmen home from Iraq. "Activists are making the film their own … it's a sharing process

War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq. Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film exhumes remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations.
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.