Library Video of the Week, January 28, 2013.

Blood and Oil the Media Education Foundation presents; featuring Michael T. Klare; directed by Jeremy Earp; Library Call Number: HD9566 .B66 2008.

From the Film Synopsis:
          “This film unearths declassified documents and highlights forgotten passages in prominent presidential doctrines, showing how concerns about oil have been at the core of American foreign policy for more than 60 years. As a result, the contemporary energy and military policies of the U.S. are virtually indistinguishable…
          “At the heart of this story is a meeting between President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Saudi King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud on Valentine’s Day, 1945, aboard the USS Quincy in Egypt’s Great Bitter Lake. In that meeting, President Roosevelt made a pact with the King that still resonates today: the United States will provide military protection for Saudi Arabia in exchange for privileged American access to Saudi Arabia’s vast oil reserves.  With methodical precision, Klare details how this meeting has spawned a series of events and presidential policies that have resulted in repeated American military operations and wars in the Persian Gulf.”

        Anyone skeptical of the idea that oil drives American military and strategic policy in the Mideast and the world should see this movie.

Library Video of the Week, April 25, 2011.

Restrepo: One Platoon, One Valley, One Year, a documentary directed and produced by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger. An Outpost Films production in association with National Geographic Channel. Library Call Number: DS371.4123.K67R47 2010.
          Anyone wanting a better understanding of the trials of our military in Afghanistan should spend an hour and a half with this documentary. Charged with maintaining calm in a part of the Korengal Valley, a fifteen-man platoon of U.S. soldiers from the 173rd Airborne is deployed to a remote outpost called “Restrepo," named after a platoon medic who was killed in action. As the product description says, “It was considered one of the most dangerous postings in the U.S. military. This is an entirely experiential film: the cameras never leave the valley; there are no interviews with generals or diplomats. The only goal is to make viewers feel as if they have just been through a 90-minute deployment. This is war, full stop. The conclusions are up to you.”
          Adding to the poignancy of this film, Tim Hetherington, the co-director and co-producer, was recently killed while covering the Libyan fighting.

Library Video of the Week, February 14, 2011.

For Love of Liberty: the story of America’s Black Patriots, directed by Frank Martin. Written by Frank Martin and Jeff Stetson. Hosted by Halle Berry, with contributions by Colin Powell, Bill Cosby, Morgan Freeman and others.

Library Call Number: E185.63 .F67 2009.
          The numbers are impressive: 5,000 African-Americans fought for the American Rebellion, more than 200,000 fought in the Civil War, 380,000 fought and died in World War I France and more than 2 million took up arms in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Yet their story remains underrepresented. This television documentary, through letters, diaries and military reports of action, chronicle the contribution of African American men and women at arms throughout the nation’s history, from its beginning struggle with Great Britain through the current war in Afghanistan.