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

Errol Morris, US, 2003, 107 minutes

"We of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations who participated in the decisions on Vietnam acted according to what we thought were the principles and traditions of this nation. We made our decisions in light of those values. Yet we were wrong, terribly wrong. We owe it to future generations to explain why." - R. S. McNamara

Robert S. McNamara was the Secretary of Defence of the US during the Vietnam war. He was complicit with some of the most questionable foreign policy ever used and his ruthless efficiency drove him to make decisions that would be contributing factors to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. It's frightening how pleasant the man seems.

Having worked as a bombing statistician in World War Two and as Secretary of Defence during The Bay of Pigs and the Vietnam war, as well as president of the world bank, McNamara comes across as very clever and very efficient; a forefather of modern war. His observations are for the most part a chilling indication of his ruthless calculations as a tool for war and of the fallibility of humanity. His honesty and unflinching answers to the questions asked produce some answers that most people in modern politics would spend hours trying to avoid and examines not only what happened, but why it happened and how he was able to do it, delving deep into the morality of war and fundamental human nature.

Errol Morris' documentary is in essence a biographical conversation between himself and Robert McNamara, sliced up into eleven chapters to dissect the business of war and try to come to terms with some of the atrocities of the 20th century. Morris makes use of sound recordings and archival footage to cement what McNamara says in place, and the Philip Glass score fixes a suitably sombre atmosphere over the proceedings. Its pace and shooting - using the Interrotron, a device of Morris's invention - make it feel almost confessional, as though McNamara is explaining things one to one and his seemingly frank answers leave little room for doubt that this was the intention.

Incredibly interesting and very unsettling; it is a film that should be seen by everyone, and one that thoroughly deserved the Oscar that it won.

Review by George Williamson
Written for EUFS Programme Autumn 2005