By Govindini Murty. Here’s an excellent short that we recently discovered online. “Why We Fight” is edited by Lt. Tyler Ginter and shot by Spc. Matthew Freire of the Special Forces, both of whom served in Afghanistan. “Why We Fight” depicts extraordinary footage of the Afghan men who fight in the Afghanistan Special Forces, Strike Force Lion against the Taliban and other radical Islamic elements in Afghanistan. I found it quite touching to hear from the Afghan men themselves why they choose to fight with the Americans on behalf of democracy in Afghanistan. As the Afghan men put it , they fight for their freedom, their children, and their families.
Filmmaker Tyler Ginter
Tyler Ginter’s short film is also a fine homage to Frank Capra’s original “Why We Fight” films – the extraordinary, Academy Award-winning documentaries that Capra made during World War II to help rally the Allies in the war against Nazism and Fascism. Today, with America and the freedom-loving peoples of the world facing a long twilight struggle against an Islamo-fascist enemy that shares many of the same goals as the Nazis, one wishes that we had a Frank Capra to articulate the cause of freedom for us. Unfortunately, today’s Hollywood directors – like James Cameron – prefer to romanticize the terrorist cause. [And, sadly, a recent anti-war remake of "Why We Fight" won a major prize at Sundance just a few years ago.]
However, in lieu of Hollywood filmmakers stepping up to defend the cause of democracy, independent filmmakers like Matthew Freire and Tyler Ginter – who pick up cameras and create fine little films like this – can still have an impact in shaping the narrative about the war. You can find out more about Tyler Ginter’s work as a Combat Camera Platoon Leader for the U.S. Army on his blog here, and you can follow him on Twitter here.
