This is a film that very much wanted
to find me. I tried to fend it off, exhausted from making
environmental and political films on shoestring budgets
that told hard truths to my fellow Australians that
they needed to hear but preferred to ignore. In today's
climate of self censorship, and public broadcasters
who fear that their political masters in Canberra will
still further cut their budgets if they support these
sorts of films, fellow filmmaker Peter Scott and I pushed
on regardless. With a hard cash budget of $12,000 and
a beg, borrow or make do philosophy...and a lot of favours,
we've pulled together this doco I know you'll never
see on 'your ABC'. The picture it paints and the consequences
for us all if we don't raise our protest loud and long
to this new military alliance with the United States
is too devastating to ignore.
The Paddy McGuinness's, the Gerard Henderson's
and Greg Sheridan's of this world with their sycophantic
attitudes towards their media masters and ruling class
elite will have a field day in attempting to put this
film down, to write it off as 'propaganda', typical
anti-American sentiment with no substance. It's time
for all of us to draw a line in the sand, to acknowledge
whether we are in fact happy to be the 51st state of
America.
More than ever, it's time for us all
to stand up and be counted for the decency and genuine
moral values of what I believed as a kid it meant to
be 'a fair dinkum' Australian. Not a false, jingoistic
patriotism that is built on fear, that justifies war
crimes in the name of the so-called War on Terror. Rather,
I embrace a healthy nationalism that acknowledges who
we are as Australians with compassion for the underdog
and giving everyone a fair go. In a humble but sincere
way, I hope this film made with a lot of heart and commitment
can play a small but important role in galvanising a
lot of us to do just that.