NEW FILMMAKER
"I'd like to invite all of the employees and executives of Titan for a screening," Greenwald said. "I'll pay for the popcorn."
Titan, which was acquired last year by New York-based L-3 Communications, did not respond to a request for comment on the accusations in "Iraq for Sale." One of the few targets to fire back is KBR, Halliburton's engineering and construction subsidiary, which called the movie "nothing more than a theory in search of a conspiracy."
Greenwald's film is part of a broader trend: the Internet and new digital video technologies that have led to a proliferation of point-of-view documentaries attempting to reshape contemporary political debate.
"The innovation is not only in the distribution, but also in the speed with which they're being made," said Michael Renov, associate dean of the University of Southern California's School of Cinema and Film.
Digital video and editing equipment have made it far easier to produce high-quality, feature-length documentaries in less than a year and on a low budget, Renov said.
Greenwald, 63, has an advantage in this respect; he also operates a commercial film-production company in Culver City, Calif., that has produced dozens of B movies for TV broadcast and theatrical release.
"Iraq for Sale" is the sixth politically provocative documentary he's produced since 2002.
"He is able to make these films quickly, partly because he already has very sophisticated editing equipment that he uses for his other life," Renov said.
Greenwald said in a recent interview that it took less than nine months and about $800,000 to make "Iraq for Sale." The filmmaker raised more than $300,000 before production started through online contributions to Brave New Films, his nonprofit production company.
Greenwald relies on "viral marketing," which is accelerating sales and distribution through his Web site and supportive political groups like MoveOn.org.
"We're at a moment where it's possible to get this material into the public sphere, because of the Internet and DVDs, in a way that wasn't possible 10 years ago," said Thomas W. Benson, a Penn State rhetoric professor.
He said this trend became evident in the 2004 electoral campaign with a "sudden flourishing of feature-length, quasi-documentary films." Benson said most of the documentaries generally reflect the liberal views of the filmmaking community, and arguably includes "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore's documentary on global warming.
But, the list also includes "Stolen Honor," the conservative take on Sen. John Kerry's role in the Vietnam swift boat controversy, and "Fahrenhype 9/11," a counterattack on Michael Moore's documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11."
Greenwald's film on the Iraq war and its alleged profiteers is showing in a handful of theaters nationwide, but he has arranged hundreds, if not thousands, of screenings through his IraqforSale.org Web site.
"I would rather be in 8,000 living rooms, rather than 8,000 movie screens," Greenwald said, "because in 8,000 living rooms, churches, union halls and bowling alleys, there is a discussion after every screening. People can sign up to do something, join an organization, write a letter, make a phone call. ... That is a very powerful tool.
"The purpose of Brave New Films is to make movies that can help create social change," he said. "It's very clear."
Experts say it's hard to determine whether these nearly instant and opinionated documentaries are having their intended effects.
Rhetoric scholar Benson said, "In a lot of ways these films changed the nature of the dialogue" and perhaps changed the way people think about certain subjects.
"Fahrenheit 9/11" is the archetypal documentary of this genre, and it still ranks as the No. 1-grossing feature documentary, with more than $119 million in U.S. box office revenue. But the film flopped in the voting booth, failing to turn the electorate against President Bush in the 2004 presidential race.
Greenwald stirred trouble for Wal-Mart Stores, the world's largest retailer, with his 2005 film, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices." The documentary details the effects of Wal-Mart's pay and benefit packages on its workers and describes the company's business practices.
With Greenwald's encouragement, liberal activists used his film to energize labor, church and community groups to pressure Wal-Mart for changes. The company has responded with increased advertising and marketing efforts to defend its business practices and to promote Wal-Mart's philanthropic efforts.
"This almost trillion-dollar company was paying serious attention to this movie," Greenwald said. "Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott wrote a letter to every store manager about the film. They hired consultants who spent a year attacking and trashing and going through every movie I had ever made."
McDonald's was one company that seemed unprepared for the fallout from the 2004 film "Super Size Me," in which Morgan Spurlock endangered his health by eating nothing but McDonald's fast food for 30 days. McDonald's' stance is that the film was misleading because Spurlock acted irresponsibly by eating too much and not exercising.
Nevertheless, the world's largest restaurant chain has become a legal and cultural lightning rod in the debate over obesity in America, especially among children. Like other fast-food chains, McDonald's has tried to address the issue by broadening its menu to include more salads, fruits, fish and chicken.
In a 2004 statement, Spurlock said: "All in, we shot more than 250 hours worth of footage, spent less than $75,000, traveled more than 25,000 miles and managed to make a movie, from concept to fruition, in less than one year - and it helped push McDonald's to end Super Sizing before it even hit the theaters. I'm pretty proud of that."
Greenwald said he hopes "Iraq for Sale" will have an impact on his targeted defense companies. In his film, Greenwald essentially asks how outsourcing military services to private contractors is saving taxpayers money if American companies charge a purported $100 for a load of laundry and $45 for a six-pack of Coke.
In revisiting the 2004 Abu Ghraib prison scandal, "Iraq for Sale" also features interviews with former military translators who say private contractors were being paid more than their military counterparts to do the same job.
"I don't know why any military person would re-enlist to do the same job when they could get out of the military and make six times the money," said Anthony Lagouranis, a military interrogator in the film.
Officials at Virginia-based CACI, which provided civilian interrogators to the military at the Abu Ghraib prison, did not comment on Greenwald's film. Whether such silence is the best response is a subject of debate among experts in the field of corporate "crisis communications."
John Spelich, a former corporate communications executive who is now with Fleishman-Hillard, said the challenge lies in the way that the Internet has made everyone a pamphleteer, publisher and producer - but not every squib turns out to be an Internet phenomenon.
"You have a sort of Hobson's choice," said Michael Sitrick, whose well-known Los Angeles firm has been retained to help Hewlett-Packard deal with its boardroom surveillance scandal. "If you make a big deal about it, you give the film more publicity than it otherwise would have received. On the other hand, you can't let inaccuracies go unanswered."
Houston-based KBR contends that Brave New Films ignored information that it provided about its operations in Iraq. In a statement posted on its corporate Web site, KBR provides links to 50 news releases and related statements regarding the company's work in Iraq.
"The claims alleged against KBR in this film represent yet another recycled rehash of inaccurate information," the statement said.
The next companies to weigh the merits of responding to the new wave of documentaries are likely to be those in the health care industry.
Moore, who made his name with 1989's "Roger and Me," on General Motors' layoffs, has prepared a new film called "Sicko," which dissects health care in America.
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