Netflix recs?

[fishonjazz]

I don't really find McNamara to be a villain or evil. Well no more so than a lot of people of his time, you look at his life, Harvard, WW II Bomber Command, Ford Motor Company, Secretary of Defence, the World Bank. I look at his life as a life of service, service to a country that I think he deeply loves, you know he was a cold war warrior. And i think good men can do bad things in those circumstances, Trump does evil **** to enrich himself, McNamara made mistakes and was an architect of the Vietnam War but his motives were not remotely for personal gain.

That's my thinking on him.

You make good points.
I don't think he was evil. I do think he's was an arrogant douchebag tho

I did see at the end that he is doing philanthropic charitable work at the end of his days.

 

[Rubashov]

You make good points.
I don't think he was evil. I do think he's was an arrogant douchebag tho

I did see at the end that he is doing philanthropic charitable work at the end of his days.

Definitely arrogant, I would find it interesting if a man of his accomplishments didn't have a degree of arrogance about him.

 

[fishonjazz]

Definitely arrogant, I would find it interesting if a man of his accomplishments didn't have a degree of arrogance about him.

Ya he was kind of too smart for his own good.
I just saw the camera man give him plenty of chances to be contrite and apologetic or to show some guilt for his part in the Vietnam debacle. He never took the opportunity.
Anytime he was asked about his responsibility for what happened in Vietnam he just deflected to blaming the president.

Would have liked to see him feel a little guilty. Plus that movie tried to paint him in a better light than what actually happened.

The Vietnam War documentary had way more audio and video showing McNamara's culpability for many of the bad and wrong decisions made regarding the Vietnam war. He would be on audio saying one thing and then lie about it in interviews. I'm guessing he had some of the creative control or whatever for the fog of war movie and had some say in what made it into the film. Not so with the documentary series.

 

[Rubashov]

Ya he was kind of too smart for his own good.
I just saw the camera man give him plenty of chances to be contrite and apologetic or to show some guilt for his part in the Vietnam debacle. He never took the opportunity.
Anytime he was asked about his responsibility for what happened in Vietnam he just deflected to blaming the president.

Would have liked to see him feel a little guilty. Plus that movie tried to paint him in a better light than what actually happened.

The Vietnam War documentary had way more audio and video showing McNamara's culpability for many of the bad and wrong decisions made regarding the Vietnam war. He would be on audio saying one thing and then lie about it in interviews. I'm guessing he had some of the creative control or whatever for the fog of war movie and had some say in what made it into the film. Not so with the documentary series.

He was dead when Burns made the Vietnam War doco, I definitely think he had regrets but I think there is a little bit of the Curtis Lemay in there as well. I think McNamara would say at some level conflict with the Soviets was an inevitable part of great power politics.

 

[LogGrad98]

I thoroughly enjoyed "Shogun", thought it was an admirable interpretation of the novel. I wish it had been 2 seasons with even more episodes per season so they could have more deeply explored the political machinations from Toranaga, and the cultural exchange between the Anjin and Mariko, and built up their relationship more fully. Like Blachthorne's reunion with his shipmates was a significant part of his growth in the novel, but it was merely glossed over in the show. Also because it was rushed really to the end, they didn't fully explore the relationship between Toranaga and the Anjin. I will say Sanada might be the best japanese actor working today. I wish they had given him more time to develop such an introspective character and room to let the character breathe. Still, for such difficult source material to adapt, they did a great job. Highly recommended. But be prepared to read the show, as it is all in japanese with subtitles. Which makes it more immersive because you are forced to pay attention and actually put your phone down, which hardly happens anymore for most people.