Actors: Robert McNamara (as himself)
Director: , Producer:

I watched this Oscar-winning documentary recently and was fascinated by it. Robert S. McNamara, former Sec. of Defense, President of the Ford Motor Company, and part of the ExComm during the Cuban Missile Crisis is a fascinating character and very charismatic. He is very candid in this documentary and reveals some amazing facts:

Ones which really stick in my memory are, amongst others:

-That 66 Japanese cities were firebombed so extensively in WWII that between 50-90% of each city was destroyed, killing hundreds of thousands of people BEFORE the atomic bombs were dropped.

-The firebombing of Tokyo alone killed 100, 000 people-women, children, men--all civilians in ONE night.

-McNamara`s admission that if the Allies had lost the war both he and Gen. LeMay would have been found guilty of war crimes. This is an astonishing admission.

-That we `lucked out` during the Missile Crisis and that is the only reason WWIII was avoided--pure luck!

-That Agent Orange was used for 7 years in `Nam during his tenure as Sec. of Def. He couldn`t remember if he authorised it officially or not.

-That he had persuaded JFK to pull out the US servicemen from Nam within 2 years by 1965 before JFK was shot.


He also told some interesting anecdotes about his upbringing and education. This was a v. rewarding documentary with great visuals -eg the footage of the Soviet Union`s testing of a 100MT bomb in air! Bombing of Tokyo etc.

A complex, brilliant, man was revealed who seemed to be struggling morally with some of the evil deeds he was associated with...

Much better as a documentary than Fahrenheit 9/11.