An unusual combination of archive images from the American war machine and a soundtrack from television commercials, “A Great Way of Life” takes us on a journey through time (back to the 1960s) and space in which the reality of daily life is transposed to where ultimately everything was at stake – Vietnam. This combination of apparently disassociated elements results in a reflection on the mechanisms of power, whether linked to the subliminal imposition of consumer habits which increasingly win over fans to keep the economic system going, or to the power of weapons, only made possible when people blindly accept a certain way of life. The images are the red-tinted evidence of a reality that is more raw than the soundtrack would lead us to believe. William E. Jones, a filmmaker whose films have been selected for the experimental competition at Curtas on several occasions, uses this mismatch of discourse to shine light on a question that might well be presented as an example of the intrinsic relationship between the alienation caused by the large-scale media such as television, the economic underpinning of the consumer society and the perpetuation of American war-mongering around the world. In the end, this is also an easily observable type of terror nowadays, although clothed in many different guises and garments. (MM)