by Halted with the Oscar for best documentary in 2004 and signed by an absolute master of the genre, Errol Morris, “The Fog of War” is an extraordinary and powerful essay, dizzying and disturbing, on the exercise of power and the very nature of history.
If it differs naturally by its form of fictional works, the emotional field opened by the documentary can be of absolutely devastating power. Because he tackles subjects concerning the intimate, questions that hit us deeply and question us about our relationship to the world and his perception. In this logic, Fog of War, released in 2004, stands out as a capital discovery.
The Fog of War, or war fog, it is above all an expression described for the first time by a very famous and influential war theorist in the 19th century, Carl von Clausewitz, to describe the absence or vagueness of information for participants in military operations. The term relates to the uncertainty of the belligerents about their own capacities, those of adversaries, the position of the forces and its objectives.
An absolutely perfect expression and above all in total adequacy with that of the documentary signed by an absolute master of the genre: Errol Morris. Graduated in the history of the universities of Princeton, Berkeley and Wisconsin (a decisive training in terms of research and investigative methods that he will employ throughout his career), he is particularly at ease to conduct the interview he has with the only interlocutor in his work: Robert McNamara.
Eleven lessons on the meaning of history
Former American defense secretary under Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, at the very heart of political decisions that will change the face of the world, McNamara was one of the most controversial and influential personalities of the international political scene.
In the film, he organizes the reflections of his subject on his life and his career in a list of maxims on war and human error, with what the New York Times called ”The cumulative message suggesting that in war time, no one in power is really aware of nothing”.
The film is divided into eleven sections based on the “lessons” that Morris drew from his interviews with McNamara, as well as on the eleven lessons presented at the end of the book of McNamara published in 1995, In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam. If the subject is brilliant, it is also a balancingist exercise for McNamara, which seems to be addressing from the height of 85 years to itself 40 years ago, between plea pro Domo, sincerity of repentance and will not to endorse all the responsibilities that are attributed to it.
Sony Pictures Classics
Through its analysis, we rediscover the major events of the 20th century. Why was the past century the most destructive and the most lethal of all the history of humanity? Are we condemned to repeat our mistakes? Are we free to make choices, or are we at the mercy of historical forces and inexorable ideologies? Should we do harm to do good?
From the bombing of 100,000 Japanese civilians in Tokyo in 1945 to the imminent risk of nuclear disaster during the Cuba missile crisis, including the devastating effects of the Vietnam War, The Fog of War examines the psychology and reasoning of the government's decision -makers who sent men to combat.
“We do not change human nature”
Mixing extraordinary archive images, reconstructions, white house records classified Secret Defense And made accessible, lulled by a hypnotic soundtrack signed by the immense composer Philipp Glass, Fog of War deploys a strictly dizzying and disturbing reflection on war, the exercise of power and the very nature of history. McNamara had already decided, and was hardly optimistic. This is the full meaning of the eleventh and last lesson delivered: “We do not change human nature”.
Want to discover Fog of War? Unfortunately, it is only available in DVD, published 21 years ago, but still findable.
