Introduction
Title “The Fog of War”
“The Fog of War“, whose full name is “The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara”, is a 2003 American documentary.
Importance of this film
This film has a very high status in the American documentary, political, defense, cultural, and historical circles. Almost all contemporary American celebrities include this documentary in their list of documentaries recommended.
The recognition it received
The Fog of War won the 2004 Academy Award for Best Documentary and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary. In 2019, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
What does this documentary talks about?
Contents of this film
The film is mainly composed of recordings of US Cabinet conversations in the 1960s and new interviews with former US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who looks back on his life from the perspective of an 87-year-old man.
The protagonist of this film
The protagonist of this film, McNamara, is the longest-serving Secretary of Defense in U.S. history. Robert Strange McNamara, an American businessman and politician, served as CEO and chairman of Ford Motor Company (ticker: F) for a long time, as U.S. Secretary of Defense (1961-1968, the longest-serving Secretary of Defense in U.S. history) and President of the World Bank for 13 years.
During World War II, McNamara served as an officer in the Army Air Forces under General Curtis LeMay, who later became Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force during McNamara’s tenure as Secretary of Defense. After the war, McNamara became one of Ford’s “prodigies” and briefly served as its president before being appointed Secretary of Defense by the new President John F. Kennedy, a position he held until 1968 during the presidency of Lyndon Johnson. McNamara discusses his involvement in the Cuban Missile Crisis and the escalation of the Vietnam War.
McNamara was mentioned in the book of “Same As Ever”, to describe a key message, the author wants to deliver to readers.
Why is this film important?
The film is divided into 11 parts based on the “lessons” that director Morris drew from his interviews with McNamara, which also correspond to the 11 lessons McNamara put forward in the last chapter of his 1995 book Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, co-authored with Brian VanDeMark.
These lessons, and the review in this film, almost all hit the crux of the problem, causing Americans to reflect and influencing U.S. national policies to this day.
Influence on US for nearly a hundred years
During his tenure as Secretary of Defense, McNamara witnessed two major events that influenced American public opinion, politics, academia, culture, history, and national defense for nearly a hundred years: the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War. This is why McNamara and this documentary are so important.
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