Analyzing historical film : the fog war - Essay Example

Analyzing Historical Film: The Fog War The film d The Fog of War is a documentary exploring the war history of America. This is achieved using the perspective of a former defense secretary in the U.S. Robert S. McNamara. The documentary involves the perception of McNamara on war both in the historical and modern perspectives considering that he was accredited to be the architect of several military actions involving the American military (Allard 49). The name of the documentary is symbolic of the difficulties, which are experienced in decision making in times of war.

The viewpoint adopted in the movie is to highlight the involvement of America in international relations and the significance of war. The film explores the controversial decisions of McNamara during the Vietnam War. The director explores the life of McNamara whereby his humble upbringing and his involvement during the historical World War 2 (Davidson 85). The film is critical of political leaders considering their decisions during international conflicts and crisis. This is evident in the massacre of 100,000 Japanese and the failure of the American army during the Vietnam War (Blight and Lang 195).

The film highlights these frailties making the audience conversant with the challenges involved during international conflicts and the historical failures in the same. After the interview, the director Morris derives several lessons from the experiences of McNamara during the Vietnam period. It is evident that the film favors the critics of the American involvement in war. The film involves several inferences in order to develop the viewpoint. This evident in the film, despite the approach of the director, that included historically relevant information.

For instance, the failure by McNamara to mention some information concerning the issues of Vietnam among other conflicts is addressed by the director using images. These images are use to infer the historical relevance of McNamara’s information during the interview. One of the inferences, which are evident in the film, is that McNamara allowed the U.S. to be immersed deeper into the Vietnam War than was necessary (Davidson 87). Another inference was that the soldiers were controlled directly by the politicians back in Washington.

It is evident that the film involved several inferences in order to complement the viewpoint of the director. Cinematic features were used effectively in order to enhance the film’s message. For instance, the director uses the Interrotron. This unique camera angle enables the director to create a feel that the audience was interacting with the character through eye contact. In addition, the author uses images, charts, visual effects and subtitles to supplement the interview. These additions ensured that the abstract nature of the interview to create a film with life.

The music used in the film creates a somber and haunting feeling complementing the viewpoint of the film. The evidence used in the film involves recordings, historical pictures and charts to support the contents of the film. This evidence is credible considering that it involves facts and events, which happened. Some of the information in the film which I was familiar with included the events of the Vietnam War. It is evident that the U.S. was criticized for its involvement in the Vietnam War due to the loss of American soldiers.

This is retreated in the film where the involvement of McNamara in the Vietnam was criticized. The historical argument in the film is commendable and considerable accurate. The director’s analysis of the WW2, bombing of the Japanese and the Vietnam War are accurate (Stein 1). This means that the director is successful in addressing the issue of the challenges of conflict through a historical perspective. Works CitedAllard, Kenneth. Warheads: Cable News and the Fog of War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2006. Print.Blight, James G, and Janet M. Lang. The Fog of War: Lessons from the Life of Robert S. Mcnamara. Lanham [etc.

: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. Print.Davidson, Janine. Lifting the Fog of Peace: How Americans Learned to Fight Modern War. Ann Arbor: Univ Of Michigan Press, 2011. Print. Stein M, Ralph. The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara. IMDB. Retrieved on 5 may, 2013 from < http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/reviews >