Robert McNamara and Grave of the Fireflies
There is a really good documentary (best i've ever seen) out on DVD at the moment called The Fog of War: 11 Lessons from the Life of Robert McNamara. McNamara was the secretary of Defence of the USA during the Vietnam War and was involved in the decision-making during the firebombing and eventual atomic bomb dropped on Japan. Most of the documentary is McNamara reflecting back on the mistakes and lessons he has learnt back in the time when he was in power. You can see him feeling regret as he talks about Japan.
He said something like - What I was doing would have only been considered immoral if I lost, but it wasn't because we won. We probably would have tried for war crimes if we had lost.
Also, "There'll be no learning period with nuclear weapons. You make one mistake and you're going to destroy nations."
Alot of the focus of the film is on Vietnam and despite my origin, I don't know too much about the war. After watching this movie I have a greater understanding of what generally happened. As I was seeing all the images, the nature of the Vietnam War looked very similar to the Iraq war. The South Vietnamese didn't want the Americans there and i'm pretty sure the Iraqis didn't want the American's help. Not many allies supported the American invasion in both wars. The war doesn't go well, they're not trained and are underprepraed for what they face in the other country. There are many casualties on the American side and eventually they pull out of Vietnam, which is probably what will happen in Iraq.
You get the feeling that McNamara didn't have any control during Vietnam, despite being the Defence Secretary. Before the war really heated up, Kennedy was president, he was assassinated and Johnson was the replacement. While Kennedy + McNamara didn't want to get too involved in the war, Johnson was the opposite and he sent thousands of troops over. He doesn't feel as much sorrow for Vietnam like he did for Japan because you could see that he felt the blame should have been placed on the President or someone else with higher orders.
Anyway, I really recommend everyone to see this doco. It's the best documentary i've ever seen, it has several phone conversations between McNamara, Kennedy and Johnson and fantastic footage, pictures and music. The movie is a chilling, huge history lesson. McNamara is highly intelligent and is a great speaker. You have to see it.
By coincidence alone, I also borrowed out a movie called Grave of the Fireflies. This is set in Japan and focusses on the lives of two orphans during the firebombing of their town (WW2). It's an anime, but if you're not used to watching Japanese animation, just don't think about it and you'll forget about it. It's very beautiful and will have a huge effect on you if you end up seeing it. I recommend that if you get the dvd, turn on the japanese soundtrack and english subtitles, the voice acting is much better.
So yeah, I guess two movies to borrow out for the weekend then? :P
Fog of War - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/
Grave of the Fireflies - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095327/
Fog of War
Grave of the Fireflies
He said something like - What I was doing would have only been considered immoral if I lost, but it wasn't because we won. We probably would have tried for war crimes if we had lost.
Also, "There'll be no learning period with nuclear weapons. You make one mistake and you're going to destroy nations."
Alot of the focus of the film is on Vietnam and despite my origin, I don't know too much about the war. After watching this movie I have a greater understanding of what generally happened. As I was seeing all the images, the nature of the Vietnam War looked very similar to the Iraq war. The South Vietnamese didn't want the Americans there and i'm pretty sure the Iraqis didn't want the American's help. Not many allies supported the American invasion in both wars. The war doesn't go well, they're not trained and are underprepraed for what they face in the other country. There are many casualties on the American side and eventually they pull out of Vietnam, which is probably what will happen in Iraq.
You get the feeling that McNamara didn't have any control during Vietnam, despite being the Defence Secretary. Before the war really heated up, Kennedy was president, he was assassinated and Johnson was the replacement. While Kennedy + McNamara didn't want to get too involved in the war, Johnson was the opposite and he sent thousands of troops over. He doesn't feel as much sorrow for Vietnam like he did for Japan because you could see that he felt the blame should have been placed on the President or someone else with higher orders.
Anyway, I really recommend everyone to see this doco. It's the best documentary i've ever seen, it has several phone conversations between McNamara, Kennedy and Johnson and fantastic footage, pictures and music. The movie is a chilling, huge history lesson. McNamara is highly intelligent and is a great speaker. You have to see it.
By coincidence alone, I also borrowed out a movie called Grave of the Fireflies. This is set in Japan and focusses on the lives of two orphans during the firebombing of their town (WW2). It's an anime, but if you're not used to watching Japanese animation, just don't think about it and you'll forget about it. It's very beautiful and will have a huge effect on you if you end up seeing it. I recommend that if you get the dvd, turn on the japanese soundtrack and english subtitles, the voice acting is much better.
So yeah, I guess two movies to borrow out for the weekend then? :P
Fog of War - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/
Grave of the Fireflies - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095327/
Fog of War
Grave of the Fireflies