Film Analysis: The Fog Of War

Superior Essays
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara was a truthful, but limited, account of the major events--events ranging from the Great Depression, World War 2, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War, and the Cold War--that the United States took part in during the twentieth century (Fog). These events are seen and told through the eyes and first hand experiences of Robert S. McNamara. Robert McNamara served as the United States secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968, serving under President Kennedy and President Johnson (Fog). Mr. McNamara was able to describe the aforementioned events of the past in which they occurred, and he was able to introduce his hindsight to these events. I believe the documentary was honest, and here …show more content…
Mr. McNamara admits he committed errors and is able to reconcile his errors with his critics, which assist to promote the documentary’s truthfulness. Throughout the course of the program, it is obvious that Mr. McNamara does not quite agree with all the decisions that were made, including those he sponsored (Fog). For instance, towards the end of the documentary, Mr. McNamara admits the Vietnam War was a mistake (Fog). He is able to come to this conclusion, by empathizing with the countries that did not support the United State’s unilateral (single-handed approach) invasion of Vietnam (Fog). When asked why he did not denounce the war after leaving his governmental position in 1968, he said that he was misunderstood and that his words could be inflammatory (Fog). After brief research on Mr. McNamara, I discovered that he was the person responsible for changing the Vietnam War’s measure of success from land acquisition to enemy body count (Vietnam). For many years, war was measured with how much land was taken over which was a highly accurate measure of war success. This new measurement of war, however, in retrospect, was not the best measurement of determining success. It makes sense why Mr. McNamara did not speak out against the war, but I believe it was a little selfish of him. Mr. McNamara’s method of measuring success was greatly inaccurate measure of the war, but when he resigned and in this …show more content…
McNamara, was a truthful documentary of Mr. McNamara’s beliefs and actions that spanned over nearly 20 years. Again, I found this documentary to be truthful and honest for a number of reasons. First, Mr. McNamara’s 11 lessons were derived through his first-hand experiences. Second, thanks to to audio recordings of Mr. McNamara, he was not able to alter his opinions or beliefs of the past, but only use them to add commentary to his opinion and to provide hindsight. Third, Mr. McNamara’s realization and acceptance of his errors showed that he was empathizing with himself from the

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