Your thoughts on Fog of War with Robert McNamara?

[Elidor]

Saw this riveting film today and I mean: whoa. I always equated McNamara with the Prince of Darkness. Perhaps I have conflated him with General Westmoreland. At any rate, I was stunned to see him tacitly admit to war crimes, and I was extremely intrigued to hear him analyze his mistakes. He was very frank about how his mistakes have cost many thousands of lives. He also frankly admitted his ignorance of Vietnamese history at the time of the war. I was not expecting such a candid assessment of his role.

His comments about unilateralism made it clear he does not care for our current foreign policy at all. He sees the same mistakes being made again.

The epilogue mentioned that he has advocated for the poor, and specifically, he says America has failed miserably to fulfil its obligations to its poor.

(The score by Phillip Glass was quite good as well, but then, I'm a fan.)

What do you DUers think of this movie and this man?

[AlCzervik]

1. I saw that about 2 months ago and i was really torn

between wanting to kick his ass and feeling bad for him. I hadnt realized how many things he had done before his stinf ans secretary of defense. the whole fire bombing thing was really unspeakable. I wish he would speak out more, you know, lessons learned, maybe he could save some lives.

[UTUSN]

2. About the Man, Not the Movie

Back when, at the time, I was a Kool-aid Dem for Mac and all the JFK/LBJ-ers.

After the deluge, after the pain of the faux-shit, I could not and still do not forgive Mac. I don't CARE whether he has repented.

[DrZeeLit]

3. Excellent!

Rivetting. I was mesmerized. All the black and white -- took me back to the 60's. I remember early in the war, I was just plain scared. Later, when I was a senior in high school, I was angry. I had this terrific civics teacher who made us read Time and Newsweek every week and we took quizzes on this stuff. I moved onto college and we thought we were getting a grip -- uncovering data from the warmongers. BUT... finally see McNamara owning up to what a crock it all was ---- whoa! That's amazing. It's tough to feel for him, but I think he has suffered... and will suffer over it. At least, we get to hear something from behind the scenes.

Recommend it!
I saw thru netflix.

[Elidor]

4. I should make clear I do not absolve him

He has done incredible misdeeds that are arguably crimes against humanity. He seems to realize that, and that is amazing to me.

I find him insidious and likeable, and much more complex than I would have expected.

[AlCzervik]

5. i understand what you mean

he ordered some horrible things and i would forget that when he cried and then i would remember how awful he was. Thats a must see for everybody, especially the pro-war crowd, maybe it would make them think...maybe?

[Elidor]

6. The part about him picking out Kennedy's gravesite at Arlington

Just blew me away. Wow. There were several 'wow' moments in the film. I think I'll purchase a copy. I also see he has written a book and co-authored two others.

[jean]

7. the website for this docu is pretty cool -

http://www.sonyclassics.com/fogofwar/

This movie should be a required element in HS govt or history classes. MacN is riveting in his admissions and for the clarity of his mind (as an octogenarian) but at the same time was despicable.

[Morning Dew]

8. Riveting -

I got my parents to watch it with me recently and my dad liked it - watched the whole thing. This is a man who has slept thru every film he's watched for the better part of 30 years.

[undercover_brother]

9. just saw it. absolutelly frightening how it fits today