Fog of War

Out of all the movies we've watched so far, this was my least favorite. I think it's interesting to see what McNamara's overall strategy and justification of the war, but it didn't interest me enough to hold my attention. When remembering the movie, the first thing that comes to mind is the soundtrack. I really liked how the music went along with the interview. It was a change since other documentaries I've seen had no background music. It really made everything much more dramatic.

When lesson one (Empathize with your enemy) was revealed, I did not expect the lesson to be a military strategy. I found it interesting that McNamara used empathy as a way to get inside the enemy's head and see how they see America. I learned about a similar method in my sociology class as well but never related it to wars. I always viewed empathy as a good thing that showed how kind a person is but McNamara gave it a negative meaning because he used it so that Americans could win. This really contrasted with my view of empathy and I wish he would have used another word.

McNamara seems like a tough, opinionated man but I was glad to see a softer side of him when he got all choked up about Kennedy's death. It really made him more human in my eyes and not just a general-like figure focused on just winning. He also seemed more appealing to me because he admitted that the U.S. government was partly responsible for Diem's coupe. He also seemed to truly believe that America was fighting communism and not just there for financial purposes because he mentioned that Vietnam was an element of the Cold War. Seeing the pictures of his family also softened my view of the man because it reminded me that he was also a father and a husband. It made me think about my own father and what it would be like if he had to carry this heavy responsibility.

I found it admirable that McNamara actually went to Vietnam and met with a former prime minister. It seems like the other major American players involved didn't go to Vietnam and that they just dealt with the situation from a distance without really knowing everything because they hadn't actually gone to Vietnam. I may be wrong. The presidents and other important people might have gone but I do know that McNamara went and I respect him for that. He mentioned that the prime minister argued that Vietnam just wants independence and said they fought China for many years. This gave me a flashback to the beginning of the semester and how accurate my research was.

McNamara made some points that I had never thought of before. He said that he made the decisions he made to avoid other big things like war with China and a nuclear war. I had never considered how the Vietnam War affected America's relationship with other major countries such as China. China seemed like it had little to do with what was going on in Vietnam so I was surprised when he pointed this out. I guess the war could have escalated to something a lot worse and it made me wonder how the whole world was affected by this war - the rest of Asia, Europe, Latin America - or if they were even affected at all.

In one part of the movie, a speaker claimed that the Vietnam War was a war against tyranny and this is exactly what I remembered from watching the news after 9/11 happened and we declared war. It's a scary thought and as I watch more of these movies, I notice more similarities between the Vietnam War and the current one.

Overall, the movie seemed heavily biased in America's favor. McNamara made several arguments and justifications that made me feel more empathic for the American cause but not enough to make me personally feel that we had the right to be in Vietnam because I still don't. The organization of the movie into lessons was effective for me. It made everything more understandable and I knew what the overall message was for each particular section. I liked that this movie showed a different point of view and made me consider new ideas about the war in general. Still not my favorite, but still a good movie.