Herold’s AP Comp and Lang blog

Fog of War was a refereshing view of the Vietnam War and of McNamara, a figure who is invariably portrayed an evil genius who manipulated and twisted his position and his situation to his own benefit, rather than doing what was best for his country and for the world. To make this documentary seem unbiased and honest, use of rhetoric was an essential strategy. The intensity of the music used and the masterful combination of the music, the dialogue, and the images were powerful and emotional. Another important aspect of the film was the fact that McNamara directly faced the camera, rather than facing an interviewer off to the side. McNamara’s position shows honesty and openness and portrays him as trustworthy. Rather than using a lot of dialogue and words, as Rosenbaum expected, the film said much more through its extremely emotional photos and videos. All in all, McNamara and the creators of this documentary did an excellent job of using rhetoric to persuade a hard audience, if not completely in McNamara’s favor, then at least closer to that direction.