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15 February 2004
movie rec: the fog of war
An uncontroversial movie it's not, but what do you expect from 100+ minutes of Robert McNamara? I had been interested in it when the first reviews came out (such as the one in the New York Times), but at my Admin Law professor's urging I made a real effort, and we saw it yesterday evening.
I don't think the film is going to change the mind of anyone who has a firm dislike of McNamara based on his involvement in developing U.S. policy in Vietnam--nor should it necessarily--but I do think that the lessons McNamara offers deserve serious thought and sustained discussion in light of current events, most notably our involvement in Iraq. Not that these lessons haven't been suggested before, and by more eloquent commentators, but their repetition doesn't mean they're cliched or trite. One might argue they haven't been repeated enough. Or perhaps they've been repeated but not heeded. As long as the U.S. gets involved in conflicts with other nations, the lessons are valid.
The movie, the timing of its release, McNamara himself, and the applicability of his lessons to our foreign policy decisions have all spawned much discussion. A few tidbits of interest:
The official press release packet (.pdf).
University of California-Berkeley forum (4 February 2004) on The Fog of War featuring Errol Morris and Robert McNamara: summary and webcast links.
The article from the Toronto Globe & Mail, mentioned at the Berkeley Forum, in which McNamara directly criticizes our role in Iraq.
An interview with Errol Morris and an article about the interview.
And for those who want to know just how old some of these lessons are, my tried-and-true recommendation: The Peloponnesian War. (Amazing--there's an unabridged audio download available, but it's translated by Richard Crawley, not Rex Warner. Hmm...)
What better to listen to while reading your new Penguin paperback than the Fog of War soundtrack by Philip Glass. As Errol Morris himself notes, "...no one does 'existential dread' like Philip Glass."¹
Seeing the movie also made me think a lot about my American history glasses in grammar and high school, and made me think they were woefully lacking. My memory of the curriculum may be fading, but it seems the syllabi of my history classes ended with World War II. There must have been something about the civil rights movement, but what knowledge I have of that seems to have come from other sources. I remember Watergate (especially the televised hearings, and Nixon's resignation), but not the fall of Saigon. Were the political and social wounds of Vietnam too fresh? Is there such a thing as a too-fresh social wound? There might be--it's a genuine question.
¹ See the press release (link above), p. 6.