As far as seeing the film as "real" or "constructed," I felt as though what I was watching was quite real. Be it the use of the Interrotron, which I did think added a more personal level to watching, or simply the fact that McNamara seemed so honest, this film felt quite genuine to me. While it may be true that McNamara walked around answers, as he said he only answers the questions he wants to be asked, the words he spoke revealed a great deal about a time period that has been shrouded from the public eye (namely concerning Vietnam). He strictly stated he would not delve into topics that were too complex, perhaps to get out of answering but I do not believe so, and the clear statement of his thoughts lead me to get a better understanding of what could have been going on in his own mind. Previously, I had not had a very high opinion of McNamara, seeing his as the architect behind the Vietnam War, after having pushed through the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, but this film allowed me to understand a portion of his view, particularly through the use of stock pictures and voice recordings of his time in the Cabinet. All in all, while slow, this film was quite effective at depicting a man and allowing him to speak on his own behalf, clarifying his past.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Fog of War
I found this film to be interesting but too slow for my taste. I believe that this is a direct result of the style that Morris used. I found myself, past perhaps lesson 4 or 5, attempting to anticipate what the next lesson would be, rather than listening to the lesson at hand. Knowing that a lesson was to be named struck my interest more than listening to McNamara go on about his own life. I'm not saying that there weren't parts I found interesting (particularly regarding Vietnam), it's just that these sections were spread between lengths that I found to be uninteresting.
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Ethan, your thoughts about McNamara bring to mind for me the human tendency to summarize a person in one, whole, form -- even when it stretches our beliefs to extraordinary degrees, we resist seeing people as complex or changing. From another perspective, however, McNamara is a different self -- down to the cells in his body -- at the time of filming than he was in 1962. Perhaps he was bad (or whatever) then and changed to become good (or whatever) now.
ReplyDeleteI also thought that the film moved at a rather slow pace. More than once I forgot about the lessons in between each one. It's interesting that your opinion of McNamara has changed. Not knowing much about him before, I found him to be very knowledgeable and likable. I think that this film could very well have the same effect on others.
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