I was lucky to recently see a screening of Robert Greenwald’s new film. It was different that what I expected, not just because it’s a full-length feature, different from many of Greenwald’s earlier, shorter political docs, but also because the film doesn’t champion political activists or progressive heroes, as a series which The Nation collaborated on with Greenwald’s shop did. And it doesn’t take on traditional left targets like Fox News, the Koch brothers and Walmart, as previous Greenwald productions have done.
What the War on Whistleblowers does is shine a light on normal people, conservative and traditional people, who acted with extraordinary courage, conviction and clarity when presented with information they just couldn’t live without revealing. These are people who believed in all that America promises and then sacrificed their reputations and livelihoods and risked imprisonment by the very government they swore to protect.
Their names are Franz Gayl, Thomas Tamm, Michael DeKort and Thomas Drake. Their stories have been told in pieces in the press and at least Drake has achieved widespread notice due largely to a magisterial investigative report by Jane Mayer in the New Yorker. But to hear them telling their own stories, not just the details of their whistleblowing and what led them to finally decide to go public, but the ways the state fought to silence them, is both inspiring and disillusioning in equal measure. And it’s infuriating to hear about the the worsening reality for whistleblowers who are being persecuted simply for exposing the truth.
The film is now showing theatrically in NY and LA, and Brave New Films is giving as many people as possible the opportunity to see it by offering a free DVD of the film to anybody who offers to host a house screening with their friends. Take BNF up on its offer, download and share this related Whistleblower Action Guide and help Brave New Films expose the undemocratic and inexcusable way that the Obama administration is treating this current generation of truth-tellers.
