![]() ![]() 4) Maximize efficiency Morris shows numbers falling like bombs over a map and McNamara recounts the fire bombing of Tokyo which claimed the lives of 100 thousand civilians in one night. He tells his first story about his long relationship with Curtis LeMay, who he knew during WWII. 3) There's something beyond oneself McNamara fondly recalls his wife, Margaret Craig, saying theirs was a marriage made in heaven (although later he implies that family relations were strained during the Vietnam War, but refuses to talk about it). He relates how, in 1992, he learned from Castro that he had recommended to Khrushchev that he proceed with the missile strike even though he knew Cuba would be decimated. McNamara deplores that there are single men who can make decisions that will obliterate people. 2) Rationality will not save us Morris uses time lapse photography of modern Tokyo and other cities with multiple superimpositions as a striking visual to show what it at stake when those cities are targets. ![]() Much later in the film, he explains how ignoring this lesson prolonged the Vietnam war - the North Vietnamese saw themselves in a Civil War and fighting for independence from enemies like China and us as colonialists attempting domination whereas we saw only the Cold War. 1) Empathize with your enemy McNamara describes how Former ambassador to Moscow, Llewellyn Thompson knew Khrushchev could save face by saying he saved Cuba from US attack. Shots of newspapers highlight descriptives such as brainy, con man, and an IBM machine with legs. An old CBS Reports piece shows the young Secretary of Defense, informing us that he may have the toughest job in existence, responsible for 1/2 of every tax dollar spent. The goal is not to destroy nations, learn from mistakes and pass the knowledge on. McNamara makes his primary sentiment known early and often - that any person in military power has made mistakes and killed people. Morris, perhaps making a comment on the objectivity of the documentary form, begins with 'outtakes' of McNamara directing his director on how to edit previously shot statements. The brilliantly sharp image is framed off center and slightly tilted for visual interest. ![]() Morris advances his work with the Interrotron device he introduced in "Mr Death," which allows his subject to look directly at the camera as he questions him. ![]() "The Fog of War" is one of the most stylistically stunning of Morris's works and his subject, often accused of accelerating the war in Vietnam, is by turns keenly intelligent, contrite, defensive and ultimately human. Death," "The Thin Blue Line") engages a sharp and lively eighty-five year old Robert McNamara, the Secretary of Defense during the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam War, to explain history with hindsight in his fascinating "The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert Strange McNamara." Morris allows McNamara to defend and accuse his actions within eleven chapters and let his audience draw their own conclusions. Combining extraordinary archival footage, recreations, newly declassified White House recordings, and an original score by the Oscar nominated composer, Philip Glass, the film is a disquieting and powerful essay on war, rationality, and human nature.Documentarian Errol Morris ("Mr. How were decisions made and for what reason? What can we learn from these historical events?Īs American forces occupy Iraq and the possibility of additional military conflict looms large, The Fog of War is essential viewing for anyone who wants to understand how the American government justifies the use of military force. Why was this past Century the most destructive and deadly in all of human history? Are we doomed to repeat our mistakes? Are we free to make choices, or are we at the mercy of inexorable historical forces and ideologies?įrom the firebombing of 100,000 Japanese civilians in Tokyo in 1945 to the brink of nuclear catastrophe during the Cuban missile crisis to the devastating effects of the Vietnam War, The Fog of War examines the psychology and reasoning of the government decision-makers who send men to war. One of the most controversial and influential figures in world politics, he takes us on an insider's view of the seminal events of the 20th Century. It is the story of America as seen through the eyes of the former Secretary of Defense, Robert S. ![]()
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