The Fog of War

This article is about the documentary film. For the military phrase, see Fog of war.

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Errol Morris
Produced by	Errol Morris Michael Williams Julie Ahlberg
Starring	Robert McNamara
Cinematography	Robert Chappell (interviews) Peter Donahue
Music by	Philip Glass
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics
Release dates	May 21, 2003 (2003-05-21) (Cannes) December 9, 2003 (2003-12-09)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara is a 2003 American documentary film about the life and times of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara as well as illustrating his observations of the nature of modern warfare. The film was directed by Errol Morris and the original score is by Philip Glass.

The title is a reference to the military phrase fog of war, a concept of battlefield uncertainty during the fighting. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature. It was screened out of competition at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.

Concept

Using archival footage, United States Cabinet conversation recordings, and an interview of the eighty-five-year-old Robert McNamara, as a former Secretary of Defense, The Fog of War depicts his life, from his birth during the First World War remembering the time American troops returned from Europe, to working as a WWII Whiz Kid military officer, to being the Ford Motor Company's president, to his being employed as Secretary of Defense and the Cuban Missile Crisis, to managing the American Vietnam War, as defense secretary for presidents Kennedy and Johnson — emphasizing the war's brutality under their regimes, and how he was hired as secretary of defense, despite limited military experience.

In a 2004 appearance at U.C. Berkeley, Errol Morris said his inspiration for the documentary derived from McNamara's book (with James G. Blight), Wilson's Ghost: Reducing the Risk of Conflict, Killing, and Catastrophe in the 21st Century (2001). Morris interviewed McNamara for some twenty hours; the two-hour documentary comprises eleven lessons from In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam (1995). He posits, discourses upon, and propounds the lessons in the interview that is The Fog of War. Moreover, at the U.C. Berkeley event, McNamara disagreed with Morris's interpretations in The Fog of War, yet, on completion, McNamara supplemented the original eleven lessons with an additional ten lessons; they are in The Fog of War DVD.

When asked to apply the eleven lessons from In Retrospect to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, McNamara refused, arguing that ex-secretaries of defense must not comment upon the incumbent defense secretary's policies. He suggested other people could apply the eleven lessons to the war in Iraq, but that he would not, noting that the lessons are generally about war, not a specific war.

Plot

The film provides a very insightful perspective on the international security of the United States of America. The overall plot of the film focuses on the interviews of former Secretary of defense, Robert McNamara, who has been interviewed for about 20 hours by the director of the documentary, Errol Morris, through a special device called "Interrotron" which allows the interviewee to look directly in the camera which is believed to bring more life into the abstract idea of the interview. Robert McNamara talks about different aspects of international security and how and by what means it can be influenced due to certain circumstances. The documentary not only explores the events of the American history that occurred in the past several years, but it also focuses on the life of McNamara and how he arose from the humble American family to the significant politician who has achieved enormous power and who later became one of the most influential people in the world of politics. Robert McNamara has worked with presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, general Curtis LeMay, and had a direct access to many governmental documents; Therefore, his opinion and his personal experiences and lessons that he has learned while serving as a Secretary of Defense can provide the audience with a very enlightening philosophy and an overall outlook on the American politics. The documentary covers such important events as World War II, Vietnam War, Cuban Missile Crisis, and many others that McNamara had to witness himself. Moreover, he is truly believed to be the "architect" of the Vietnam war that cost an enormous amount of lives. The movie gives a great opportunity to take a close look on at the international security, and overall international relations of the USA, and McNamara's interview along with archival footage, really helps understand why certain conflicts may occur and which lessons can be learned.

Reception

Reviews for the film were very positive. The film received an overall rating of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, therefore obtaining a "Certified Fresh" award. Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "Although McNamara is photographed through the Interrotron, the movie is far from offering only a talking head. Morris is uncanny in his ability to bring life to the abstract, and here he uses graphics, charts, moving titles and visual effects in counterpoint to what McNamara is saying." However, some of the reviews were not as flattering. Charles Taylor of Salon.com wrote, "Errol Morris tries to pin down Vietnam War chess-master Robert McNamara, and the results are fascinating -- also troubling, deeply confusing and way too artistically precious." He especially emphasizes on the fact that this particular documentary has been blurred with many unnecessary artistic techniques that could have been avoided. Nonetheless, Curt Holman of Creative Loafing had a pretty positive view on those techniques used in the film. He writes, "Morris uses a device he calls the "Interrotron," which permits his subjects to look directly at the camera and see Morris on a small monitor. The effect on film is that the interviewees appear to sustain eye contact with the audience."

R.S. McNamara's eleven lessons of war

1. Empathize with your enemy
2. Rationality will not save us
3. There's something beyond one's self
4. Maximize efficiency
5. Proportionality should be a guideline in war
6. Get the data
7. Belief and seeing are often both wrong
8. Be prepared to re-examine your reasoning
9. In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil
10. Never say never
11. You can't change human nature

Ten additional lessons from R.S. McNamara

These supplement the documentary; they are in the DVD's special features.

1. The human race will not eliminate war in this century, but we can reduce the brutality of war—the level of killing—by adhering to the principles of a "Just War," in particular to the principle of "proportionality."
2. The indefinite combinations of human fallibility and nuclear weapons will lead to the destruction of nations.
3. We [the U.S.A.] are the most powerful nation in the world—economically, politically, and militarily—and we are likely to remain so for decades ahead. But we are not omniscient. If we cannot persuade other nations with similar interests and similar values of the merits of the proposed use of that power, we should not proceed unilaterally except in the unlikely requirement to defend directly the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii.
4. Moral principles are often ambiguous guides to foreign policy and defense policy, but surely we can agree that we should establish as a major goal of U.S. foreign policy and, indeed, of foreign policy across the globe: the avoidance, in this century of the carnage—160 million dead—caused by conflict in the 20th century.
5. We, the richest nation in the world, have failed in our responsibility to our own poor and to the disadvantaged across the world to help them advance their welfare in the most fundamental terms of nutrition, literacy, health and employment.
6. Corporate executives must recognize there is no contradiction between a soft heart and a hard head. Of course, they have responsibilities to stockholders, but they also have responsibilities to their employees, their customers and to society as a whole.
7. President Kennedy believed a primary responsibility of a president—indeed the primary responsibility of a president—is to keep the nation out of war, if at all possible.
8. War is a blunt instrument by which to settle disputes between or within nations, and economic sanctions are rarely effective. Therefore, we should build a system of jurisprudence based on the International Court—that the U.S. has refused to support—which would hold individuals responsible for crimes against humanity.
9. If we are to deal effectively with terrorists across the globe, we must develop a sense of empathy—I don't mean "sympathy," but rather "understanding"—to counter their attacks on us and the Western World.
10. One of the greatest dangers we face today is the risk that terrorists will obtain access to weapons of mass destruction as a result of the breakdown of the Non-Proliferation Regime. We in the U.S. are contributing to that breakdown.

Eleven lessons from the Vietnam War

The documentary's lessons-learned concept is McNamara's eleven-lesson list of In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam (1995).

1. We misjudged then — and we have since — the geopolitical intentions of our adversaries … and we exaggerated the dangers to the United States of their actions.
2. We viewed the people and leaders of South Vietnam in terms of our own experience … We totally misjudged the political forces within the country.
3. We underestimated the power of nationalism to motivate a people to fight and die for their beliefs and values.
4. Our misjudgments of friend and foe, alike, reflected our profound ignorance of the history, culture, and politics of the people in the area, and the personalities and habits of their leaders.
5. We failed then — and have since — to recognize the limitations of modern, high-technology military equipment, forces, and doctrine. We failed, as well, to adapt our military tactics to the task of winning the hearts and minds of people from a totally different culture.
6. We failed to draw Congress and the American people into a full and frank discussion and debate of the pros and cons of a large-scale military involvement … before we initiated the action.
7. After the action got under way, and unanticipated events forced us off our planned course … we did not fully explain what was happening, and why we were doing what we did.
8. We did not recognize that neither our people nor our leaders are omniscient. Our judgment of what is in another people's or country's best interest should be put to the test of open discussion in international forums. We do not have the God-given right to shape every nation in our image or as we choose.
9. We did not hold to the principle that U.S. military action … should be carried out only in conjunction with multinational forces supported fully (and not merely cosmetically) by the international community.
10. We failed to recognize that in international affairs, as in other aspects of life, there may be problems for which there are no immediate solutions … At times, we may have to live with an imperfect, untidy world.
11. Underlying many of these errors lay our failure to organize the top echelons of the executive branch to deal effectively with the extraordinarily complex range of political and military issues.

Charity

Sony Pictures Classics allowed proceeds from limited screenings of The Fog of War to benefit Clear Path International's work with victims of war in Vietnam.

References

Specific references:

General references:

• Globe and Mail, Jan. 24, 2004 - registration required

External links

• Official site from Sony Classics
• The movie in full length at the Google videos.
• The Fog of War at IMDb
• Making History: Errol Morris, Robert McNamara and The Fog of War from sensesofcinema.com
• Transcript of the film from errolmorris.com
• Eleven Lessons from The Fog of War
• Errol Morris on interviewing Robert McNamara – from NFB documentary Capturing Reality: The Art of Documentary
• Robert McNamara - Daily Telegraph obituary