The
Fog of War, the movie that finally won
Errol Morris the best documentary Oscar, is a spellbinder.
Morris interviews Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense in the
Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and finds a uniquely
unsettling viewpoint on much of 20th-century American history.
Employing a ton of archival material, including Lyndon B
Johnson's fascinating taped conversations from the Oval Office,
Morris probes the reasons behind the U.S. commitment to the
Vietnam War--and finds a depressingly inconsistent policy.
McNamara himself emerges as--well, not exactly
apologetic, but clearly haunted by the what-ifs of Vietnam. He
also mulls the bombing of Japan in World War II and the Cuban
Missile Crisis, raising more questions than he answers. The Fog
of War has the usual inexorable Morris momentum, aided by an
uneasy Philip Glass score. This movie provides a glimpse inside
government. It also encourages skepticism about the same. --Robert
Horton Amazon.co.uk
