i dunno about the old heads on here but i found it tedious. it's gotten rave reviews but i attribute this mostly to errol morris' critical cachet-he's an unassailable darling among tastemakers for some reason. he's of the documentary school that is super laissez faire verite. he interrupts mcnamara infrequently, but occasionally leads the witness so to speak. there are plenty of times that mcnamara gaffes, thinking he's come up with trenchant insight, and the audience gobbled it right up. i'd like to see it screened in a double feature with the trial of henry kissinger.
to the point: it was like a paper that was well researched but written the day before it was due. it's a mcnamara monologue for the most part. he exculpates himself of some pretty atrocious things, esp. to young members of the audience. i've never really spoken to my dad about viet nam really, but i'd be curious to know what he thought of mcnamara, even though my dad had already finished two tours by the time kennedy was shot.
no heat and less light for me. i just saw "hearts and minds" recently but my all-time, desert island fave is chris marker's *the grin w/o a cat* which is screened frequently at film forum. it's about 185 minutes long and in the parlance of youth, is the hype sh*t.
jt. r
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