Movie The Fog of War is not your typical war film, By Kevin Curley

Movie The Fog of War is not your typical war film, By Kevin Curley

(EXCERPT) February 15, 2004

Errol Morris’ current film, The Fog of War, presents a
documentary portrayal into the life of Robert S. McNamara, Secretary
of Defense for both John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from 1961 to
1968.

The film focuses on McNamara’s role and perspective on three
crises which greatly affected Americans and their safety, World War II
and the massive bombings of Japan before the atomic bombs were
dropped, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War.

The film begins with McNamara’s view of the firebombing of 67
Japanese cities including Tokyo in 1945 that killed over one million
people. McNamara, then a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force,
discusses the problems he had with future Chief of Staff Col. Curtis
Lemay’s decision to kill 100,000 Japanese citizens in one night.

Throughout the movie, Morris delves into the McNamara’s
two-sided life. On one hand, McNamara has a strong moral standard that
chal...

U.S. and friendly nation laws prohibit fully reproducing
copyrighted material. In abidance with our laws this report
cannot be provided in its entirety. However, you can read it
in full today, 15 Feb 2004, at the following URL. (COMBINE
the following lines into your web browser.) The
subject/content of this report is not necessarily the
viewpoint of the distributing Library. This report is provided
for your information and discussion.

http://www.spectator-online.com/vnew.../402fda442e8bf

---------------------------
Otis Willie
Associate Librarian
The American War Library
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com