The Fog of War Movie Review:


The Fog of War is a complex, intriguing and brilliantly made documentary from commanding filmmaker Errol Morris. Just winning the Oscar for Best Documentary, the film is now expanding across the globe into theaters.

The documentary centers on Robert S. McNamara, who was the Secretary of Defense in the United States under President Kennedy and President Johnson. Presumed as arrogant throughout his time in the White House, McNamara could very
well be the one person to point the finger at for the devastating war in Viet nam. Shot before the War in Iraqi and with McNamara at the age of 85, the
film is composed of McNamara’s 11 contradictory lessons, which start off with "Empathize with your Enemy," and end with ‘You can’t change Human Nature."

McNamara’s life itself was very skewed, after gaining a Harvard education; he was an aide of the Air Force’s firebombing of 1945 in Tokyo, Japan that claimed 100,000 lives during World War II. Under the direction of the war-hungry General Curtis LeMay, McNamara states that LeMay told him if the United States would have lost the war, he and McNamara would have been tried as war
criminals.

A year later McNamara took over as President of the Ford Motor Company, where he was credited with the implementation of seat belts. Shortly after, he was hand selected as the Secretary of Defense by President Kennedy; he was the youngest man to ever hold the position.

McNamara was part of the White House staff that also experienced the scares of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Bay of Pigs invasion. Startled,
McNamara reveals that in 1992, Cuban President Fidel Castro admitted to him that there were 162 nuclear warheads in Cuba at the time of the crisis. In one of the most powerful moments of the film, McNamara closes his pointer finger and
thumb to say that we were this close to nuclear war.

The second half of the film enthralls the audience with McNamara talking about his involvement with Vietnam during Kennedy and Johnson’s reign. In
which, McNamara is emotional, but does not apologize or take blame, but hints at it. The essence of the film also questions what would you do in his position during this time period?

Morris intertwines numerous archival footage of all of McNamara’s events, as well as percentages, comparisons, charts, and actual recordings of
McNamara’s conversations with President Kennedy and President Johnson.

All of the choices by Morris are terrific, and the documentary is also given a sense of tension by Philip Glass’ haunting musical score.

Morris, who is considered by some as the best documentary filmmaker in the world, spent 20 hours interviewing McNamara with the two looking at one
another through a device called the "Interrotron." The "Interrotron" is a video structure that allows interviewers and interviewees to look into each other’s eyes while also looking directly into the camera. In effect, McNamara is staring eye level at the audience throughout the whole film.

McNamara is a controversial figure in history, and yes this film does call for some sympathy towards him. However, the power of this film comes from
the revealments that he tells, his explanations, his lessons, and his questions. Just like in the 1960’s, McNamara has an answer to every question, but
Morris gets to him, he has to think more about his answers throughout the interviews. This film more or less shows the pressures and decisions involved in
holding a position with such power as the Secretary of Defense. Perhaps every candidate for a position of this power should view this film before signing on.

The one little flaw with this film is that if you are not a history buff, you may be lost in some moments. Though most people of the time are familiar
with McNamara’s place in history, the current generation may need to do a little bit of research before viewing this film. If not, you will be searching
material after you see it.

Errol Morris is a great filmmaker, who previously directed The Thin Blue Line and Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control. He latest effort with this film
very much earned him the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. The Fog of War is
scary, informative, proficient and forceful.

Grade: B+

Joseph Tucker

From an extended interview with former US Defence Secretary McNamara, filmmaker Morris has crafted a remarkable documentary that not only paints a complex portrait of this man, but also of America through the 20th century. And while it's unflattering (and scary), the film is so balanced and honest that it should be mandatory viewing in school history classes. Morris combines the lively interviews with archival film, stills and, most tellingly, recordings of White House conversations. This documentary evidence undermines many assumptions we've always had, showing a much more fallibly human side of the story. And indeed, this is McNamara's main theme: That we all make mistakes. Over and over and over again.

McNamara is exceptionally well-placed to comment on these events. At 85, he's lucid and witty, intelligent and self-deprecating, and blessed with a razor sharp memory. He's also a fantastic storyteller, giving detailed commentary about the end of the Great War, the Great Depression and World War II (during which he participated in perhaps the worst bombing campaign in human history--levelling 67 Japanese cities ... before dropping two nuclear bombs). He then took a job at Ford and made his fortune in the post-war boom before JFK tapped him to be defence secretary, a position he held through the Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis and then, under Johnson, the escalating Vietnam War.

Morris manages to bring revelations into each of these events. This is a beautifully produced film, expertly edited with a haunting Philip Glass score and statistics that are meaningful and extremely disturbing. The most shocking chapter is the description of the fire bombing of Japan, during which McNamara admits that if the Allies had lost the war they would have been tried as war criminals, and rightly so. "But why is it moral because we won?" His comments on the Cold War and Vietnam are equally provocative, recasting the events through firsthand memories, new evidence and the gift of hindsight. And admitting openly that the world's leaders were often dead wrong. Thankfully, Morris uses a light hand when drawing parallels with these things and the current War on Terrorism. But the similarities are horrifying, especially in the fact that to the Cold War-obsessed Americans, Vietnam was about containing Russia and China. But to the Vietnamese it was a civil war; they were trying to break free of the Communist powers.

As McNamara concludes that in the fog of war, our judgement and understanding are simply not adequate: "We are the strongest nation in the world today, and I do not believe we should ever apply that economic, political or military power unilaterally. If we'd followed that rule in Vietnam, we wouldn't have been there. None of our allies supported us. If we can't persuade nations with comparable values of the merit of our cause, we'd better re-examine our reasoning."

Rich Cline

Site Contents Copyright© The Z Review, unless used with permission.This site has no intention to infringe on the rights of the film owners of The Fog of War and intellectual copyright holders of the movies mentioned herein & hold copyright over the movie, characters, merchandise & storyline.