THE FOG OF WAR
(Errol Morris / USA / 107 mins / 35mm / cert PG)
(Mon 20th- Thurs 23rd / 7pm / £4/3/2ttt)
Controversial former US Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, primary architect of the Vietnam War and the man who introduced the seatbelt to the Ford motorcar, reviews his life and career and offers an unflinching re-examination of the role he played in one of the most anguished periods in US history.
In this fascinating documentary McNamara offers his personal reminiscences on episodes including the Cuban Missile Crisis, the firebombing of Tokyo, and the self-immolation of a Quaker outside the Pentagon, along with 11 pithy guidelines for practisers of International Relations including "In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil."

Oscar-winning director, romantic journalist and former private investigator Errol Morris got famous for his interviewing technique in films like The Thin Blue Line and Fast Cheap and Out of Control, using his own invention The Interrotron™, a two camera arrangement with mirrors and Teleprompters designed to let the interviewee speak directly into the camera. Morris has previously chronicled pet cemeteries, lion tamers, naked mole rats, people who cut off their legs for the insurance money and Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time.
As Morris said in his Oscar acceptance speech (Best Documentary 2004), "40 years ago this country" (ie. the USA) "went down a rabbit hole in Vietnam and millions died. I fear we're going down a rabbit hole once again." Soundtrack by Philip Glass.