Matt Murphy could have been ripped to shreds, if not for the SFPD, when he caught home run ball #756. However, despite his lumps, he holds a piece of history, the baseball which launched “out the yard” to break “the most hallowed record in all of sports”.

The film, Blind Spot is a video interview with Traudl Junge, Adolf Hitler’s personal secretary (yes, that Adolf Hitler). It’s incredible to watch. There is no background music, the camera does not move, there are one or two fade-ins and no additional footage is added. Nevertheless, you can’t help but sit in amazement because this person was right next to the most infamous man of the 20th Century.

Fog of War is an interview with Robert McNamara, former Secretary of Defense, notably during the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam War. Granted, this film does have plenty of historical footage, some excellent bits of editing, and an excellent score by Philip Glass, but McNamara himself is completely engaging.

What is the fascination with certain aspects of history? Each of the above fall into different categories, Murphy: Touching History; Junge: Infamy; McNamara: somewhere between history and infamy. What determines the intensity of our fascination? Sometimes, it is the prospect of selling a piece of history for a great deal of money (selling a baseball). Other times, we may feel a personal connection to the subject because it affected our lives in some form (serving in Vietnam). It may even be morbid fascination (“What was the monster really like?”).

Additional Links:
NPR: Errol Morris Interview