the fog of war (2003)
			director:  errol morris robert mcnamara, fidel castro barry goldwater, lyndon johnson john f. kennedy unfashionable observations rating: C+				Errol Morris’ The Fog of War is more like a history lesson than anything else.  Indeed, the documentary itself is divided into eleven “lessons.”  Didactic to its core, this documentary fails to live up to its hype because there is no emotion behind the storytelling.  When we first meet Robert McNamara, we find him to be a man bent on telling his story in a particular way: bereft of feeling or passion, concentrating only on the facts and the rational arguments behind the decisions made.  Steadfast, stubborn, and inflexible in his old age, he remains so to the very end of the film.  Indeed, it is quite fitting the documentary closes with McNamara’s refusal to answer a final question. This documentary sets out to survey political events in U.S. history as seen through the eyes of Robert McNamara.  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.  He then went on to become president of the World Bank, where his global influence continued.  From World War I, to the Cuban missile crisis, through the Vietnam War, McNamara tells us the story from inside.  Supplemented by archival footage and other interviews, this documentary provides the viewer with a good overview of 20th century American history. At one point in the film, McNamara gives the viewers some advice: Never answer the question you’re asked; only answer the question you wish you had been asked.  Unfortunately for the audience of The Fog of War, McNamara employs this insincere rhetorical tactic throughout the entire film.  No truth beyond what can be found in a textbook, or indeed even in a History Channel special, is attained through the experience of Morris’ film.  The emotive, dramatic quality that should separate this documentary from any History Channel specials on the Vietnam War is nowhere to be found.  McNamara is never quite able to get comfortable enough in front of the camera to put down his notes and tell his story from his heart.  Instead, we are left with an hour-and-a-half long speech by a former leader that cannot sound any more scripted. I'd give Errol Morris' The Fog of War a C+.
	Unfashionable Observations by Xavier Morales © 2004