In Whose Interest?

A brilliant political cartoon in the May/June 2003 issue of Utne magazine shows a gas station with a series of price signs--"Regular $1.70," "After Afghan Pipeline $1.52," "After Iraq $1.33," "After Libya $1.27," "After Saudi Arabia $1.06." According to filmmaker David Kaplowitz's exceptionally timely documentary In Whose Interest?, ever since American diplomat George Kennan's "containment" theory set the tone for post-WWII U.S. foreign policy, American intervention (or lack thereof) has been dictated by U.S. interests, whether we're talking about economic imports (such as oil) or ideological exports (such as our one-size-fits-all democracy-in-a-box provisional governments). The best interests of the country in question, on the other hand, have been rarely served, and Kaplowitz buttresses that argument with this compelling look at five specific historical cases--Guatemala, Vietnam, El Salvador, East Timor, and Palestine/Israel--that interweaves archival stills (some graphic and grisly) and footage with contemporary interviews featuring political raconteur du jour Noam Chomsky (who makes a persuasive case about how often U.S.-led coups result in a new government that is called "a democracy, but in fact [is] a military regime," as in the case of El Salvador) and scholar Joseph Nevins (who refers to the American public's ignorance and indifference to these foreign affairs as textbook examples of the "national forgettery"). While some of this information will be known to viewers (such as the fact that the U.S. gives over $3 billion dollars in aid to Israel every year), much of it will be a revelation, especially to young adult viewers who will empathize with the young filmmaker's (a UC Berkeley student) questions about his country. Highly recommended for high school (with a warning about the graphic images), public, and academic libraries. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)