Propaganda?

I've seen a lot of assertions, in online reviews and such, that this movie is "propaganda," or more specifically "liberal propaganda," and having just watched this movie I feel like addressing them.

After viewing the movie, the ridiculousness of this assertion is apparent--it seems that screaming "propaganda!" is a stereotyped response to any opinionated film these days.

So, why isn't it propaganda? Well, for one, it makes a serious attempt at answering an important question--why do we (americans) fight? Now, the conclusion is overwhelmingly anti-war, but this certainly doesn't make it any kind of propaganda. The movie does a good job at offering a variety of viewpoints, and makes a point of keeping democrat vs. republican politics out of the picture. It practically proclaims Eisenhower (republican) a prophet and demonizes Truman (democrat), saying he dropped the atomic bombs to show off. And one of the most intelligent and outspoke pundits is republican John McCain.

So I would say this is clearly not "liberal propaganda." Is it anti-war propaganda? I guess you could make an argument that it is, but the issues that it brings up are too complex to be simply dismissed as propaganda, and it does a good job of acknowledging and addressing this complexity and letting viewers think for themselves. It shies away from making sweeping, definitive statements, which is typical of propaganda, and focuses on details.

So anyway, to conclude: this isn't brainless propaganda (a la bowling for columbine). I would recommend it to anyone interested in the dynamics of war and the reasons behind modern warfare. If nothing else, it'll give you some interesting things to think about and discuss.