Reviewed by: Joe & Kris

Directed by: Errol Morris

Produced by: Michael Williams, Julie Ahlberg, & Julie Bilson Ahlberg

Cast: Robert McNamara, Fidel Castro, Barry Goldwater, Lyndon Johnson, & John F. Kennedy

Documentary 1 hr. 35 min. This documentary is built around over 20 hours of interviews that director Errol Morris conducted with Robert McNamara (1916-), which is supplemented by archival footage and supplementary interviews. Robert McNamara was the Secretary of Defense during both the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson presidential administrations, and as such was a key figure in the Vietnam War. McNamara went on to become president of the World Bank (1968-1981) where his global influence continued. This documentary covers McNamara's entire life, but the topic covered most in the conversations with McNamara is the Vietnam War.

The Fog of War offers some clever insights into both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations but fails in its efforts to clearly express a unified message in spite of wonderfully crafted conversations from former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. McNamara’s conversations will either leave you, depending on your political stance and prior knowledge of history, hollering at the screen or erupting in applause. He never sticks in one fine area of politics, which, in a way, makes him all the more interesting to listen to just for the shake of his unpredictability. Unfortunately, in light of that fact, the whole documentary feels uneven as McNamara starts in one time period (1963) jumping to his childhood in 1918 back to World War II then to Vietnam then back to WWII only to return to Vietnam once again, which may leave a few viewers unfamiliar with historical dates confused.

The audience also gets the feeling that McNamara may have gone a little too easy on certain individuals, namely John F. Kennedy, with whom he seemed to have been pretty close to, no more notably then in the discussion of Kennedy’s funeral plot at Arlington Cemetery. He fails to focus on Kennedy’s failure at the Bay of Pigs which results in the Cuban Missile Crisis, which he called a victory (if only in his mind), as well as his failure to adequately end any conflict in Vietnam by ordering an invasion of the North prior to the Viet Cong’s infiltration of the South. Though certain individuals are quick to assume that in light of the Iraq War that this film should reflect significantly on the decisions made thus far by the Bush administration, this documentary is to be required viewing more for the Democrats then the Republicans if only to show that their party’s past candidates did far worse then what they accuse the Bush administration of doing in the midst of the War on Terror. It should noted that those going into this film should have some prior knowledge of the historical events that take place within the context of the documentary in order to full assess and judge statements made by Robert McNamara.

This movie won an Oscar for Best Documentary in 2004, and believe me it deserves it. This is an extremely thought provoking film, and it fits the current times. It’s a documentary about former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. This is a man who’s brain I would love to pick. He seems extremely intelligent and he has been through a lot in his life.

The way everything in this film was presented is very interesting. It’s presented in 11 rules or steps for war, and then it explains McNamara’s experiences with those rules. I felt really bad for McNamara because I could tell he felt awful about some of the decisions he made when he was Secretary of Defense. There are some very sad parts of the movie, and it was so interesting to hear everything with McNamara’s words and point of view.

It’s a very touching film, and I’m glad it won the Oscar for Best Feature Documentary. If you want to learn something about war and something about history from the point of view of someone who had to live the Cold War everyday of his life in office, this is a movie you have to see. It is definitely worth your time.