I haven't heard much discussion of this film, so I really wanted to urge everyone to see it.
It's a documentary about former Sec. of Defense McNamara, and it covers his involvement in Vietnam and the Cuban Missile crisis.
He was amazingly honest and articulate in his interviews (although still slightly in denial). The most disturbing thing is that he comes off as some egghead Harvard mathematician, who believed war could be quantified.
There are some really freaky statistics about the fire-bombing of Japan in WW2, as well. The "military mind" of Generals and the Joint Chiefs doesn't come off looking too good, either. McNamera basically confirms the often expressed opinion that we would all be dead now if Kennedy would have listened to the Generals. (He said that this wasn't just the case Cuban Missile crisis - he said that on 3 separate occassions while he was SOD, the world came a whisker away from total nuclear war). Basically, military men always see military means as a solution to a problem. Which is only natural, as it is their world view.
I think everyone should see this film. I forced my squeemish girlfriend to go, and she was glad I did. At one point in the film, MacNamera says something to the effect that everyone should study and think about the concept of war as much as they can. My girlfriend zeroed in on this observation, and surprisingly agreed with it, wondering if America's squeemishness about unpleasant things isn't the only reason we are in this war. This country needs to take a hard look at war, and learn how goddamn un-controllable it is.
I'm not that big of a fan of Errol Morris (the director of this film), but it genuinely says something new on the subject, and impressed me. Plus it has some damn fine and haunting music by Phillip Glass.