Fog Of War, The
For a film that is essentially just one man sitting in a room talking The Fog of War is as engaging a documentary as I have seen. Robert S. McNamara, a former US Secretary of Defence, recounts his experience at the helm of the United State’s military, a busy time in America’s military history, which included the bombing of Japan in World War 2 to the disaster of Vietnam, and close-shave handling of the Cuban missile crisis serving under JFK. He is definitely a man worth listening to.
With Errol Morris up to his usual antics: stylistically symbolic shots (dominos falling, etc.) and brash shouting from behind the camera, his unique interviewing knack continues as his subject opens up, and is at times frighteningly honest. He frankly admits wrong-doing in Vietnam with the Agent Orange and acknowledges that history is written by the winners, and that under different circumstances he could be regarded as a war criminal.
Sculpting the interview into 11 ‘lessons’, Morris and McNamara take us on a fascinating tour of American military wars, supported by some amazing archive war footage, and whatever you may think of the man, you can’t help but feel for him during his emotional outpouring about the assassination of his boss Kennedy.
The application of these ‘lessons’: his mistakes, regrets and triumphs to the modern day government and their handling of Afghanistan and Iraq is all too clear, and will definitely leave you thinking that the forecast today for the Western world’s ethics and motivations in war is still as murky as it ever was. Have we lost focus of the greater goal under the fog and chaos of war? What rules are there in war after all? How much evil are we willing to do in order to do good? In a world where war protesters are prepared to violently riot for peace and the government is willing to bomb countries into submission in the name of freedom and liberation it is a hazy truth indeed.