Review – Why We Fight

During the Second World War the War Department employed famed Hollywood director Frank Capra to produce a series of short movies that would help explain to our troops in the field just exactly why they were doing what they were doing. Because they are similar in tone, style and intent (and because none of them alone is long enough for a separate review), I’m covering them as a single movie. However, I’m taking the unusual step of covering them in separate paragraphs because each installment deserves individual attention.

Prelude to War – And so it begins. This installment lays down the basics for the rest of the series in terms of historical background as well as visual and narrative style.

The Nazis Strike – Drat those pesky Nazis! This installment documents Hitler’s treachery as his troops swallow Czechoslovakia and then march on Poland. The story meanders a bit here and there; for example, we get the swallowing-the-Czechs animation several times. Still, the troops needed a good working knowledge of the kind of war the Germans were waging.

Divide and Conquer – This one actually gets a bit tedious in spots. To be sure, it’s full of good information. For example, I hadn’t remembered that there was much opposition to the side-stepping German invasion of France. It just tends to get bogged down in the detail.

The Battle of Britain – People raised to fear Communism must have struggled with the next episode in the series, but this is the one I struggled with. However, even the atrocities perpetrated by the British don’t excuse the horrors of the Blitz, here ably documented with some of the best footage of the series. It’s a little unnerving, however, to note just how much of the Nazis’ failure was due to their own incompetence rather than the might of the British opposition.

The Battle of Russia – Frank Capra singing the praises of Soviet Communism? War truly does make the strangest of bedfellows. This installment is longer than the rest of them, probably because the propaganda mill saw the obvious problems inherent in the allegiance between Russia and the United States. If young men raised on a steady diet of red-baiting in the 1930s were to be expected to go to war to help save Stalin, they were going to need some convincing. The resulting argument is meticulous, packed with detail, and even features some footage borrowed from Sergei Eisenstein.

The Battle of China – Up until now Capra has devoted little attention to the war in the Pacific. I expect he assumed – rightly, most likely – that Pearl Harbor alone (combined with some racism) would be more than enough to motivate American troops to fight the Japanese. But just to ice the cake a little, the War Department shares the horrors of the conquest of China and some inspiring stories of Chinese resistance.

War Comes to America – Wow, what a dud of a way to finish up an otherwise excellent series. Honestly, even back then did anyone buy this cornball sales pitch version of America’s self image? Capra’s effort to inspire the troops in the field should not have wrapped up with a parade of obvious, childish lies about multiculturalism and seemingly endless parades of boring statistics. The only part of this installment I really liked was the stock-footage-and-Disney-animation presentation about the German presence in South America.

Overall: worth seeing