Quick, get all the old blog entries out of the way before the new year arrives and Oscar buzzing screener DVDs start piling up on the desk. It is not very original to find “Fog of War” a very interesting film. Even if one does not have an interest in US domestic policy (as I do) and if you believe that a superficial knowledge about the US involvement in World War II, Vietnam, Korea or Cuba is all you will ever manage to accumulate in this short life that has plenty of more interesting and rewarding and sustainable topics on offer (as I do, too) – even then a character like Robert McNamara, representing a certain political decision-making family more than being an individual representing himself, is outstandingly interesting. This lengthy interview, the mixture of arrogance and brilliance, the sometimes stunningly clear analysis of world politics as a process reduced to very simple questions of which activity do undertake next, a certain (well-deserved, I guess) old-age stubbornness about topics on which he got challenged for the better part of the last century. All his creates a showcase for how power works. How creatively at times the power-brokers have to work, how blue-collar-ish action is required at other times. A bit scary, but a nice – if politically superficial – lecture in US and hence world history.
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fog_of_war/
thomas4cinema 