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The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)

Documentary | 107 minutes
3,72 221 votes

Genre: Documentary / Biography

Duration: 107 minuten

Alternative title: The Fog of War

Country: United States

Directed by: Errol Morris

Stars: Robert McNamara

IMDb score: 8,0 (26.025)

Releasedate: 9 December 2003

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara plot

Robert McNamara was Secretary of Defense during the terms of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. He was president of the World Bank from 1968 to 1981. Director Morris sheds light on the life of this controversial man through interviews with McNamara himself and archival footage, highlighting his role in the Vietnam War.

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avatar van Vinokourov

Vinokourov

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Excellent documentary about the Secretary of Defense at the time of the Vietnam War: Robert McNamara. Through eleven lessons/chapters you get an overview of his life and therefore some tactical lessons. What is striking is that during the recording of the docu he was already well into his eighties, but still full of zest for life and charismatic. This helps to develop sympathy for him in the beginning when he talks about his childhood. It's also fascinating to see how he acted as a consultant during World War II and then for Ford. With his analytical skills, he brought about important changes.

McNamara therefore seems to be a very amiable person, albeit a tad arrogant a la Mart Smeets. With the Vietnam episode, things still get twisted. I think deep down in his heart he realizes that he didn't make the right decisions at the time. He often shifts Vietnam's blame to President Lyndon Johnson, which I found a bit easy. And suddenly he can't remember whether or not he signed up for the use of the Agent Orange poison, even though he comes across as an omniscient person. For the rest, the documentary does not have much to offer cinematically: only archive footage and McNamara speaking. It has to rely mainly on the content, which is already amply fascinated.

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avatar van Movsin

Movsin

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A documentary, here still with an important world politician as the central point, is always interesting to see events that affected the whole world from a certain angle.

This documentary is well worth watching but, as always, the really pertinent questions remain unanswered and are replaced by such common wisdoms as "Humanity will never change" and "No mistakes is impossible" etc.

Moreover, I found quite a lot of details, anecdotes actually, discussed here: meeting his wife, the choice of the place where Kennedy was buried, a farewell ceremony.... Had nothing to do with the documentary...

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van Insignificance

Insignificance

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It must have been quite a job to make it into a coherent story, judging by all those clippings. The big McNamara interview, interspersed with illustrations and both image and sound from the archive, while Philip Glass's music gives it some more flair. With any interest in the matter, something like this can quickly become fascinating and if anyone has the right to speak, then it is this man. Someone who should provide unique insights, although I have experienced it too little as such.

The more privately oriented matters are significantly less interesting and if something is going on there, McNamara immediately cuts it off. I can't help feeling that he does the same when it comes to the fog of war. Along the way, he also talks about how he handles questions, essentially bypassing them, and in the epilogue there's that damned if I don't moment. A tactician. Perhaps more openness is too much to ask, but it does add an aftertaste.

Just like when he doesn't remember when Agent Orange comes up. Still a number of times that he doesn't come across quite well, even though he calls himself a war criminal somewhere. The lessons (oddly enough, McNamara himself has ten pieces) are not that much, it is more the history that he evokes, from his perspective, and his position in it, that make it a valuable documentary. Also a somewhat flawed one, Morris gets all in all too little out of the man.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original