21° TORINO FILM FESTIVAL
Americana
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara
Country: USA
Year: 2003
Duration: 95'
In front of Errol Morris' movie
camera, Robert McNamara, former American Secretary of Defense, talks about his
political career, from the Second World War to the Cuban missile crisis to the
Vietnam War. With repertory films clips and tapes from the era, which have only
recently been released by the American government, McNamara reconstructs his
relationship with General Curtis Le May, shedding light on little known aspects
of WWII, like the B-29's bombing of Tokyo on March 10, 1945, which killed
100,000 civilians.
"We all want to see things in black and white, as
if moral choices were obvious: the devil on one shoulder and an angel on the
other. One day you choose good and one day you choose evil. The world isn't this
way. The generation that grew up before and during WWII experienced the cold war
in a way which we absolutely can't understand. McNamara himself defined this way
of thinking "the excuse of the cold war," but when is an excuse an excuse and
not an explanation?" (E. Morris).
Biography
film director
Errol Morris
Errol Morris was born in 1948 in Hewlett, Long Island. He studied at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, Princeton and Berkeley. His movie career began in 1978 with the documentary Gates of Heaven, about two animal cemeteries. Ten years later, he made The Thin Blue Line, an investigation of a murder that let the police discover the true assassin and free an innocent person who was already on death row. In 1991 he made A Brief History of Time, a long interview with the scientist Stephen Hawking. In 1997 the Torino Film Festival showed his film Fast, Cheap & Out of Control.
FILMOGRAFIA
Gates of Haven (doc, 1978), Vernon, Florida (doc, 1981), The Thin Blue Line (La sottile linea blu, doc, 1988), A Brief History of Time (Dal big bang ai buchi neri, doc, 1991), The Dark Wind (La collina del demonio, 1991), Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (doc, 1997), Stairway to Heaven (cm, doc, 1998), Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. (doc, 1999), First Person (serie TV, 2000), The 74th Annual Academy Awards (doc, TV, 2002), The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (doc, 2003).
Cast
& Credits
Regia, soggetto,
sceneggiatura/
Director, story, screenplay: Errol Morris
Fotografia/Director of photography: Peter Donahue, Robert Chappell
Scenografia/Set design: Ted Bafaloukos, Steve Hardy
Montaggio/Film editor: Karen Schmeer, Doug Abel, Chyld King
Musica/Music: Philip Glass
Suono/Sound: Tom Paul
Interpreti/Cast: Robert McNamara
Produttore/Producer: Errol Morris, Michael Williams, Julie Ahlberg
Produzione/Production: Sony Pictures Classics Globe Department Store - Sony Pictures Classics
Distribuzione/Distribution: Columbia Tristar Film France.
Director, story, screenplay: Errol Morris
Fotografia/Director of photography: Peter Donahue, Robert Chappell
Scenografia/Set design: Ted Bafaloukos, Steve Hardy
Montaggio/Film editor: Karen Schmeer, Doug Abel, Chyld King
Musica/Music: Philip Glass
Suono/Sound: Tom Paul
Interpreti/Cast: Robert McNamara
Produttore/Producer: Errol Morris, Michael Williams, Julie Ahlberg
Produzione/Production: Sony Pictures Classics Globe Department Store - Sony Pictures Classics
Distribuzione/Distribution: Columbia Tristar Film France.