We Are Many

‘I think they were saying, “We’ll it’s okay to be for peace, but you can’t be against the war”.’

We Are Many is a riveting and desperately needed explanation of the war of our generation: the invasion of Iraq.

13 years, 1,220,580 deaths, countless troops lost and a black hole in modern history later, people are still reeling from the events following September 11^th.

Made up of news clips following politicians, demonstrations and individual interviews with various anti-war activists, this documentary eliminates any misgivings about “needing” to go to war as the politicians speak for themselves. It can be a harrowing and tough watch as you realise that these are the people you are told to trust most.

Built around the inspiring worldwide anti-war protests following the events of September 2001, director Amir Amirani creates a demonstration of his own by giving the context of the decision to go to war, the unexplained jump between that and 9/11 and the resulting marches for peace occurring across many nations.

Almost 800 countries over the seven continents held protests, some reaching over 1.5 million people, including activists, celebrities and corporations using what power they had to come to a solution. It’s a touching story with a bitter pill to swallow: although they set records on the biggest protests in history, politicians didn’t listen. It makes you wonder if mankind has evolved at all.

But Amirani doesn’t leave his audience with no inkling of hope left. In comparing Iraq war protests to the more recent Syrian war protests, Amir points out that politicians are learning to listen to their people.

Laura Maxwell

We Are Many was released in UK cinemas on the 8^th of June 2014.

Watch the trailer for We Are Many here: