The Fog of War
War is endlessly fascinating to me. Films like Apocalypse Now and the miniseries Band of Brothers rate high on my all-time favorites list. I'm awed by the blur of necessity and uselessness that leads to such mass destruction and loss of life. While I'll never be an expert on war, I feel compelled to learn a bit here and there to put myself in touch with a reality that's beyond my little life.
As with most documentaries I rent, The Fog of War gathered dust while it waited in line behind Layer Cake (highly recommend) and Running with Scissors (mildly recommend). It's no wonder I wasn't racing to watch it the first free moment I had: Robert McNamara (Secretary of Defense under Kennedy and Ford) and World Bank were in the synopsis. Yawn. But of course it turned out to be incredibly interesting, engaging and enlightening.
The documentary is a combination McNamara biopic and Vietnam war analysis. If you don't know much about the man or have only a superficial notion, this film opens him up to see his past not just through photos and footage, but from his own frank point of view. He is so unscripted that he denies answering some questions in favor of being "damned if you don't." But for the most part, he answers on more than you could hope to hear.
The questions guide him from his childhood, to WWII, to the Cuban Missile Crisis, to the Ford Motor Company (his group invented the car seat belt), to Vietnam. He answers to his past with historical hindsight and often says the things he did were simply the things you did at that time. For instance, the Vietnam War was a "cold-war activity." But while giving that reasoning, he also explains that war itself is so complex, it's difficult for the human mind to see all the details and reasons - the "fog of war". Absurd miscommunications and lazy misunderstandings lead to mistakes, which in turn lead to casualties and destruction. (Today we went to the super cool Museum of Flight and walked through the WWI and WWII exhibits. This is a must-see. The images further reinforce the depth and breadth of war, and how easy it would be to get lost and make mistakes.)
Although The Fog of War's subject matter may sound dry, the film is replete with archive footage and smart commentary, like the Eleven Lessons, which includes "Empathize with your enemy." Haunting images of bombs dropping from planes onto civilian cities and the after shots of mass annihilation are enough to keep anyone absorbed.
And of course there are the parallels drawn between the Vietnam war and the Iraq war, such as ill-preparation (and misjudging the other side), troop increases and lack of allied support, among other things. I also caught some alluded similarities between Rumsfeld and McNamara, which made me want to learn if all former Secretaries of Defense were arrogant and bullish. Are those requisites for the position? Also made me want to see a female Secretary of Defense.
Again, I'm no expert on the subject of war, but it seems that part of the reason for this documentary was to use an old, experienced man with hindsight to sprinkle us with wisdom so we don't make the same mistakes time and again, or at least make fewer of them. In the film McNamara says he doesn't foresee an end to the acts of war anytime soon. I don't foresee a beginning to learning from mistakes anytime soon, either. I think it would take superhuman intelligence to do that, something the White House hasn't seen in quite some time.
The film made me want even more to have a leader who's mindful, empathetic and wise. At least someone with enough educational hindsight to keep us out of war instead of barreling towards it for any given (false) reason. Here's hoping that person is in the running soon.
As with most documentaries I rent, The Fog of War gathered dust while it waited in line behind Layer Cake (highly recommend) and Running with Scissors (mildly recommend). It's no wonder I wasn't racing to watch it the first free moment I had: Robert McNamara (Secretary of Defense under Kennedy and Ford) and World Bank were in the synopsis. Yawn. But of course it turned out to be incredibly interesting, engaging and enlightening.
The documentary is a combination McNamara biopic and Vietnam war analysis. If you don't know much about the man or have only a superficial notion, this film opens him up to see his past not just through photos and footage, but from his own frank point of view. He is so unscripted that he denies answering some questions in favor of being "damned if you don't." But for the most part, he answers on more than you could hope to hear.The questions guide him from his childhood, to WWII, to the Cuban Missile Crisis, to the Ford Motor Company (his group invented the car seat belt), to Vietnam. He answers to his past with historical hindsight and often says the things he did were simply the things you did at that time. For instance, the Vietnam War was a "cold-war activity." But while giving that reasoning, he also explains that war itself is so complex, it's difficult for the human mind to see all the details and reasons - the "fog of war". Absurd miscommunications and lazy misunderstandings lead to mistakes, which in turn lead to casualties and destruction. (Today we went to the super cool Museum of Flight and walked through the WWI and WWII exhibits. This is a must-see. The images further reinforce the depth and breadth of war, and how easy it would be to get lost and make mistakes.)
Although The Fog of War's subject matter may sound dry, the film is replete with archive footage and smart commentary, like the Eleven Lessons, which includes "Empathize with your enemy." Haunting images of bombs dropping from planes onto civilian cities and the after shots of mass annihilation are enough to keep anyone absorbed.
And of course there are the parallels drawn between the Vietnam war and the Iraq war, such as ill-preparation (and misjudging the other side), troop increases and lack of allied support, among other things. I also caught some alluded similarities between Rumsfeld and McNamara, which made me want to learn if all former Secretaries of Defense were arrogant and bullish. Are those requisites for the position? Also made me want to see a female Secretary of Defense.
Again, I'm no expert on the subject of war, but it seems that part of the reason for this documentary was to use an old, experienced man with hindsight to sprinkle us with wisdom so we don't make the same mistakes time and again, or at least make fewer of them. In the film McNamara says he doesn't foresee an end to the acts of war anytime soon. I don't foresee a beginning to learning from mistakes anytime soon, either. I think it would take superhuman intelligence to do that, something the White House hasn't seen in quite some time.
The film made me want even more to have a leader who's mindful, empathetic and wise. At least someone with enough educational hindsight to keep us out of war instead of barreling towards it for any given (false) reason. Here's hoping that person is in the running soon.
posted by Anne at 9:00 PM
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