By Chris Gladden

Archives Reprint

   Special to The Roanoke Times

    If any face symbolizes America's role in the Vietnam War, it is that of the man with the slicked-back hair and rimless glasses: Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. He held the cabinet post under both Kennedy and Johnson, and he's long been blamed for the disastrous foreign policy that cost 58,000 Americans and millions of Vietnamese their lives.

    McNamara is the subject of Errol Morris' Academy-Award winning documentary, "The Fog of War."

    It's a surprising and illuminating work, particularly for those of us who demonized McNamara. It's also a movie with terrifying revelations and wise observations from a man who was there.

    The man who emerges from the 20 hours of interviews done by Morris deplores war and is horrified by the prospect that a few rational men can obliterate the planet. He also comes through as a man who advised both Kennedy and Johnson to de-escalate the Vietnam War, but one president was murdered and the other fired McNamara for his views.

    McNamara illustrates his fear of nuclear holocaust chillingly with reminiscences of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1962, the U.S. learned that the Soviets had deployed missiles in Cuba presumably without their nuclear warheads. Kennedy ordered them removed, and the Russians refused. Russian hardliners wanted to go to war. Castro years later revealed to McNamara that there were indeed nuclear warheads on the island. Moreover, Castro had urged the Russians to use them if the U.S. invaded even though it meant that Cuba would be vaporized. Nikita Kruschev didn't want war, but he couldn't be perceived as weak. During the delicate stand-off, former U.S. ambassador to Russia Tommy Thompson faced up to Kennedy and told him the only way out was to give Kruschev and opportunity to save face. Kennedy listened, and global nuclear war was averted. McNamara asserts that nuclear war was closer than any of us ever imagined.

    Morris also includes biographical information from McNamara's childhood to his Army service to his leadership of the Ford Motor Co. Meanwhile, he blends the interviews with fascinating film footage and arresting visuals set to an ominous Philip Glass score. He stays off camera and lets his subject do most of the talking.

    At the end, we're left with the message that fallible, flawed well-meaning people can inflict horrendous damage on the human race. It's a message McNamara wouldn't dispute.

   VIEWER GUIDE: Four and a half stars. A Sony Classic release at the

   Grandin Theater. Rated PG-13 for documentary footage of war.

    The Fog Of War

    HHHH 1/2

    At the Grandin Theatre. Rated PG-13 for documentary footage of war. One hour, 35 minutes.

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