The Suspense

Music is powerful. In fog of war the power is expressed as the composed material meshes with the visuals allotted to the viewer. Constantly I felt a sense of suspense despite the rather open testimony of Robert McNamara. Director Errol Morris seems to use this creation to blame the evils of war in general on fate rather than simple human beings. 

As early as the opening scene, symphonic music is present in a form that leaves the viewer on seats edge despite the simplistic and rudimentary interview in progress. It is like a horror movie in which the inevitable bad is on the brink, yet it has not showed itself yet. In the  interview McNamara continually expresses the desire he and others had to do the right thing. This conflict between content and music seems to sum up Morris' argument as a whole.

Because of prior knowledge, we as viewers already know the content and conflict of the Vietnam War. Morris represents this through the ominous background music he deploys. By this he is showing that the atrocities of the Vietnam war were created independent of an upstanding and successful family and business man in Robert McNamara.