Should you watch The Fog of War?
Who it’s good for, who it isn’t, and what’s in it. No ratings, no scores.
The Fog of War
Documentary · 2003
Former corporate whiz kid Robert McNamara was the controversial Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, during the height of the Vietnam War. Augmented by archival footage and cabinet conversation recordings, Errol Morris gives the conflicted McNamara a platform on which he attempts to confront his and the U.S. government's actions in Southeast Asia in light of the horrors of modern warfare, the end of ideology and the punitive judgment of history.
The sides of The Fog of War
- Robert McNamara looking back at his life
- The Cuban missile crisis and Vietnam
- White House recordings
The Fog of War is good for you if…
- you like hearing a man in power explain his own decisions.
- you want the Cold War told from inside the room.
- you want to think about how wars are decided and why they go wrong.
The Fog of War is bad for you if…
- you want a clear verdict on McNamara, and the film leaves you to judge him.
- you need momentum, and this is one man talking to the camera.
About: responsibility · war · memory · power
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