The Fog of War (Errol Morris 2003)
Posted on April 10 at 15.23, 2007 by Eric Mahleb
A fascinating look into the life and actions of Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defence under Kennedy and Johnson and the man many have come to associate with the absurdity of the Vietnam war. Yet, as this documentary reveals, war is a complicated and often irrational affair, whereby even the most rational man can make illogical and unreasonable decisions. That being said, I am still not sure that McNamara was a reasonable man in those days, but the point which is made brilliantly by the documentary, is that Man can sometimes be caught up in events that are bigger than he is, and in this process, the lines between good and bad, between our beliefs and our actions, can easily be blurred. Errol Morris, the famed documentary filmmaker, does not try by any means to excuse McNamara. On the contrary, he wants to expose him, but rather than wanting McNamara to simply say ‘I am sorry’, Morris wants him to open up and to uncover what makes a man such as him do the things he did. And this technique works brilliantly. McNamara reveals an ambiguity, a paradox, a certain sadness that one can’t help but associate with something bigger than just McNamara, something that goes deep into human nature…
My vote: 
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One Response to “The Fog of War”
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Sicko - Quiet Please - Film reviews by Eric Mahleb Says:
September 9, 2007 at 9.31[…] Therefore, it could be argued that some of the best documentaries are the ones that try to not convince the viewer of any truth, either by equitably showing both sides of an argument without adding a biased conclusion, or by skillfully threading the middle line between both sides, never really taking sides. Brilliant examples of this are Errol Morris’ The Fog of War and Marcel Ophüls’ The Memory of Justice. I suppose one could argue that there is always a trace of bias in all films or documentaries. Godard’s typical Godardian statement that ‘a tracking shot is a moral issue’ demonstrate that all aspects of filmmaking, from the location and movement of the camera, to the order in which the scenes are scripted to the final editing decisions, are all part of a deliberate decision by the filmmaker to tell a story according to his or her own opinion. […]