--- alsolikelife <alsolikelife@...> wrote:

> Perhaps you're right. I don't know as much about
> these events as
> others including yourself so I can only take your
> word for it that
> this Morris mis-represents the facts.

Start reading. There are any number of books about
Vietnam. Thoser who do not learn from history are
condemned to listen to murderers like McNamarra paint
themselves men of honor.

My own take
> on this film is
> that Morris tries to let McNamara speak for himself
> while at the same
> time trying to expose fissures in McNamara's
> self-portrayal (via
> startling jumpcuts in the interview footage mixed
> with floridly
> assembled stock footage illustrations of McNamara's
> points, and of
> course the "lessons" McNamara imparts that become
> increasingly
> dubious and contradictory as they accumulate).

Piffle!

Had he cared (which he doesn't -- Morris is a pompos
ass) he would have brought in any number of other
people to expose McNamarra's shameless lies. Instead
he polishes an apple for the teacher and then pretends
that he wasn't the one who put it on his desk.

Many
> of Morris' films
> have tried to straddle the mystery of how people
> present themselves,
> trying to be both sympathetic and critical at once.

There is nothing "mysterious" about the way people
present themselves. The lie. They create myths. They
become Marlene Dietrich-- or George W. Bush.

> I don't think
> McNamara gets nailed in the way you would like, but
> I don't think he
> gets exonerated either... at least I find it a
> worthwhile argument
> (if not a bit dour and pessimistic) that Morris is
> saying that the
> McNamara's failings -- the limitations of human
> perception and
> judgment -- could very well be anyone's.
>

No they couldn't. Not at all. That's like saying
Adolph Eichmann's failings could be the failings of
anyone.

(I still can't
> forget how the packed
> NY Film Fest audience cheered the DOGVILLE massacre
> like a
> bloodthirsty throng at a gladiatorial match -- it
> scared the crap out
> of me but convinced me that von Trier was on to
> something).
>
Naw. He just made a bloody spectacle. People love to
watch anything knowing they won't get their hands
dirty.

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