Dirty Wars is a remarkable documentary, made by a mainstream journalist (Jeremy Scahill) who is swimming against the overwhelming tide and actually doing his job: working to expose Americans to truths they should care about and should do something about. It’s a must-see for every American citizen.

Dirty Wars is a very life-size and watchable documentary, a slowly unfolding story of journalistic courage and determination, written and paced very well. Scahill’s journey started with his routine activities as a war-reporter, tracking down secret nighttime strikes in Afghanistan that citizens were talking about but the U.S. military was denying. Through this, he discovered JSOC (a secret elite military unit reporting directly to the President himself) long before they became a household name after the bin Laden strike. And as he dug deeper, eventually shifting focus to Yemin, he gradually uncovered a pattern of U.S. military action unheard of in history: indiscriminate drone murder, spread across 70 countries (most of whom are neutral or allies,) and creating more hatred of the United States than ever existed 10 years ago. In the end, it’s about how the United States redefined warfare in the last 10 years, and an invitation to ponder the wisdom of these decisions, both morally and selfishly (i.e. is it making is safer or putting us more at risk?)

Dirty Wars might not be the cheeriest topic, but the issues it tackles are critically important for the future of the world and the place of the United States in that world. I can’t imagine it’s getting much distribution, but if you get a chance, go see it, and if you don’t be sure to Netflix it when it comes out.