Fog of War

The title “Fog of War” was the first thing that perked my interest in this movie. Wikipedia defines it as “a term used to describe the level of ambiguity in situational awareness experienced by participants in military operations.” This film involves the fog that not only hinders the soldier’s view but the different fogs that hinder our views of the war as well as all those involved.

The introduction to this movie begins very powerful. The music entices you to feel and to be moved not toward a bright happy response as more colorful music would lead, but rather uses dark and ominous melodies – perfectly matching the fear in a fog of war. McNamara then speaks of a sentence in which he said which he stopped and this banter is included but for what purpose? Maybe it’s to say that the perception of things especially in war can be changed up and edited to reveal whatever is necessary. He then talks about the mistakes that a good commander would accept that they’ve made, but with the arrival of nuclear weapons, one mistake is catastrophic. Lastly he introduces the purpose and points that he’ll reveal, talking about the lessons he’s learned. By going back in time and revealing all the aspects of McNamara’s traits that set up his ethos, and at his age talking about hindsight and retrospect, we can’t help but sit and watch the lessons that taught so much to McNamara.

Another fog of war is revealed regarding the consequences of war. "[General Curtis] LeMay said if we had lost the war, we would have been prosecuted as war criminals. And I think he's right. . . . What makes it immoral if you lose and not immoral if you win?" The reason that nobody from the U.S. was prosecuted depended heavily on the fact that we won that war, but that also begs the question: since we obviously didn’t win the Vietnam war, are we too supposed to judge those involved in the war? Or does war ignore the humane aspects and simply allow all rules to be thrown to hell?