Movie · 2003 · Documentary, TV Movie, History, War · 1h 47m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 8.8/10 (46.1K ratings)
Overview
Using archival footage, cabinet conversation recordings, and an interview of the 85-year-old Robert McNamara, The Fog of War depicts his life, from working as a WWII whiz-kid military officer, to being the Ford Motor Company's president, to managing the Vietnam War as defense secretary for presidents Kennedy and Johnson.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.8/10
IMDb: 8.0/10
Letterboxd: 3.98/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
Metacritic: 87
TMDB: 7.7/10
Director
Errol Morris
Production
SenArt Films, RadicalMedia, Sony Pictures Classics
Cast
Robert McNamara, Errol Morris, Fidel Castro, Barry Goldwater, John F. Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev, Curtis LeMay, Richard Nixon, Harry Reasoner, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharp, unsettling interview documentary that turns a former defense secretary’s self-justifications into a study of power, memory, and moral evasion. It’s essential viewing if you’re interested in political history, the ethics of war, or formally inventive nonfiction.
Best for
viewers who like rigorous political documentaries
people interested in the Vietnam War, Cold War, and nuclear brinkmanship
fans of interview-driven nonfiction and psychological character studies
viewers who appreciate morally complex subjects rather than simple verdicts
Skip if
you want a neutral, comprehensive history of the Vietnam era
you’re looking for an emotionally uplifting or easy watch
you dislike documentaries built around a single dominant voice
you prefer films that clearly condemn their subjects without ambiguity
Overview
Errol Morris turns a long interview with Robert McNamara into something far more disquieting than a standard historical profile. The film is built on the tension between McNamara’s polished rationality and the scale of the destruction tied to his decisions, especially in World War II and Vietnam. What emerges is not just a portrait of one man, but a study of how institutions, language, and self-image can soften responsibility.
Worth noting
The film’s power comes from its structure: archival material, recorded conversations, and Morris’s precise questioning keep McNamara under pressure without turning the piece into a simple ambush. He is articulate, reflective, and often chillingly evasive, which makes the documentary feel like a conversation with history itself. It’s especially strong on the idea that catastrophe is often made by competent people who believe they are being practical.
Bottom line
This is not an easy watch, but it is a rewarding one. The film lingers because it understands that the most frightening part of war-making is not chaos alone, but calm, managerial certainty. Even years later, it remains one of the most memorable documentaries about power and moral blindness.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Josh Lewis (4★) · 582 likes
At first it was kind of hard to pick up on what exactly Morris is getting at by giving such a limited POV of this subject to one of its horrendous architects but eventually this all reads as wheel-spinning, letting McNamara go on and on with these pitiful, performative, teary-eyed reflections on the "human cost" meanwhile doing everything in his power to dance around Vietnam (one of the very few pushes Errol makes is an incredibly polite but well-timed "at… more At first it was kind of hard to pick up on what exactly Morris is getting at by giving such a limited POV of this subject to one of its horrendous architects but eventually this all reads as wheel-spinning, letting McNamara go on and on with these pitiful, performative, teary-eyed reflections on the "human cost" meanwhile doing everything in his power to dance around Vietnam (one of the very few pushes Errol makes is an incredibly polite but well-timed "at… more
Ciara (5★) · 344 likes
The name is Strange. The life is epic and complex. The man admits he behaved as a war criminal. He uses the phrase "we burned to death one hundred thousand Japanese in a single night" several times. He does not blanch from the death he has caused, nor does he embellish the good he has done.
Erroll Morris does not allow him a single wasted moment on screen. A meeting of two geniuses in their own professions, this ranks as… more
comrade_yui (4★) · 244 likes
an instability of ideas, a 'rational' man who believes in the inherent irrationality of the human race. nothing is his fault; when he contributes to thousands of japanese civilians dying in firebombing, it's a systemic problem, when the vietnam war escalates by his hand for years and years, it's human error. total inept technocratic pragmatism, no one is in control, hundreds of thousands of people die, and according to mcnamera, it's all just guys like him 'trying' their best. god, i'd hate to see what happens when these bastards are actually good at their jobs.
brendan o'hare (4★) · 136 likes
Yes I killed hundreds of thousands of people. Yes I am a war criminal. But in my defense, it was foggy outside
sakana1 (5★) · 126 likes
What is truth? Why is truth?
There are two crucial, contextualizing moments in Errol Morris' The Fog of War, neither of which last more than twenty seconds. The first occurs while the credits are still running: during a break in filming, we hear the film's subject, former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, positioning himself as director, asking Morris to speak so that the eighty-five-year-old McNamara can "hear your voice level." McNamara then decides the conversation will pick up midstream, because "I remember… more
2014 · Documentary · 1h 53m · R · Curator 8.8/10 (111K ratings) · Where to watch: Philo
A modern nonfiction portrait of state power and surveillance, with a similarly tense, consequential political atmosphere.
Topics
political documentary, war ethics, Cold War, Vietnam War, nuclear anxiety, interview-driven, historical nonfiction, moral ambiguity, bureaucratic power, psychological portrait