Documentaries on the war in Iraq are suddenly experiencing somewhat of an exponential growth and producing a very cluttered market place. Of course one aspect of this happening is that you get lots of weak ones along with the stronger one and, when it comes to picking them off the TV guide it is hard to know what is what. As a member of the choir on this subject, I have seen quite a few weak ones but also some good ones. No End In Sight enters this field as a very good if not brilliant entry that very much covers similar ground that was done by the better film "No Plan No Peace".
However baring this in mind it is to the credit of the film and telling of the shock value of the material that this film still engaged me. Many of the contributors and clips I had seen several times in other films on similar subjects but yet this film still worked for me. The reason for this is because it structures its point pretty well, moving forward chronologically but also with the events broken down into headed sections. The straight telling carries it though and Ferguson has pulled together his contributions, clips and footage in such a way that it is hard to disagree with. I do not agree with some that dismiss this as biased I just think sometimes it is hard to accept when you are wrong. Of course the film does do what Ferguson wants because he is writer and director but there is a reason why there are not many "so how great is Iraq going now huh?" films doing the rounds.
The contributions are perhaps the usual faces but they are still used well and edited tightly to make the point. OK I did feel slightly sorry for Walter Slocombe but this was only a temporary feeling as Paul Hughes was used to cut under those in charge. Garner is as important and honest as ever while others are brought in to held build events and highlight weakness and failure throughout the planning (or rather lack of planning). The film deserves to be seen and it deserves credit for being able to pull this chaos and confusion together into a clear and concise summary that may well lean a certain way but perhaps understandably so. It is not as impressive a film as the BBC's No Plan No Peace, but it is still a well put together and effective documentary that is good enough to stand out from the very big crowd.
However baring this in mind it is to the credit of the film and telling of the shock value of the material that this film still engaged me. Many of the contributors and clips I had seen several times in other films on similar subjects but yet this film still worked for me. The reason for this is because it structures its point pretty well, moving forward chronologically but also with the events broken down into headed sections. The straight telling carries it though and Ferguson has pulled together his contributions, clips and footage in such a way that it is hard to disagree with. I do not agree with some that dismiss this as biased I just think sometimes it is hard to accept when you are wrong. Of course the film does do what Ferguson wants because he is writer and director but there is a reason why there are not many "so how great is Iraq going now huh?" films doing the rounds.
The contributions are perhaps the usual faces but they are still used well and edited tightly to make the point. OK I did feel slightly sorry for Walter Slocombe but this was only a temporary feeling as Paul Hughes was used to cut under those in charge. Garner is as important and honest as ever while others are brought in to held build events and highlight weakness and failure throughout the planning (or rather lack of planning). The film deserves to be seen and it deserves credit for being able to pull this chaos and confusion together into a clear and concise summary that may well lean a certain way but perhaps understandably so. It is not as impressive a film as the BBC's No Plan No Peace, but it is still a well put together and effective documentary that is good enough to stand out from the very big crowd.