The Fog of War
July 2004 Reviewed by: Marc Mickelson Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

"War is so complex it's beyond the ability of the human mind to comprehend all of the variables."
-- Robert McNamara

Part biography and part history lesson, Academy Award-winning documentary The Fog of War tells of one of America's most turbulent decades through the words of a man who was in the midst of the mire: former US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. McNamara came from the private sector to Washington in 1961; he had been named president of Ford Motor Company five weeks earlier. Even though he had little military experience (three years in the army during WWII), McNamara was offered and accepted his Cabinet-level position, but he had no idea what was coming his way: the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy, and the Vietnam War.

The film is subtitled "Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert McNamara" and communicates its message mostly through McNamara talking to the camera. Director Errol Morris enhances these monologues with period film footage, recorded Oval Office conversations and some brilliant cinematic technique. One of my favorite filmmaker's touches occurs during a discussion of military efficiency, an idea that McNamara championed and honed during his tenure. A bomber drops a payload of numbers, which float downward and underscore the message.

McNamara, who was 85 at the time the movie was made in 2001, drops bombs as he reveals some of what America did in the name of war. These admissions are shocking and historically significant, but they are not the meat of this movie. McNamara puts a face on it all and makes us remember that men were behind this era of history -- fallible men. While McNamara indicates that his time in Washington was precious, it is impossible not to see the effect of the events he recalls on his recollections. He is at once nostalgic, then insistent, then somber, conveying not only details of American history but also his own personal history as an adviser to the most powerful man in the free world.

Extra materials on the DVD are scant: a half-dozen deleted scenes and a text collection of McNamara’s lessons -- those that frame the movie were not McNamara's own. These ten are McNamara’s, and two of them address terrorism in ways that the current administration does not. The sound and picture are very good, and Phillip Glass's score is tense and haunting -- perfect accompaniment for director Morris's images. You might think a movie that is in many ways a series of monologues -- My Dinner with Andre without the dinner guest -- would be easy to absorb in a single viewing. I've seen The Fog of War twice and don't think I have fully comprehended it.

There has been much speculation as to why McNamara, who left government in 1968, would make this movie. Some people believe he wanted to set the record straight regarding the events he helped shape, while others believe he wanted to clear his conscience as he nears the end of his life. In my opinion, the answer comes at the beginning of the movie, when McNamara says that there is "no learning period with nuclear weapons." He hopes that the secrets of warfare and history he reveals will educate, and we will avoid doing something terrible and irreversible. "We came within an eyelash of war with the Soviets three times. Cold War? Hell, it was a hot war," McNamara says.

I am an admirer of Michael Moore's film and TV work, and while Bowling for Columbine was the more controversial movie and gained notoriety because of it, The Fog of War is the better movie. You will not have fully lived through the '60s until you see it.

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