Errol Morris’s Standard Operating Procedure
I’m very interested to see the new Errol Morris film Standard Operating Procedure, which explores the torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison. Morris explores, in essence, in how good people turn evil, or how they can be unduly swayed by a few poor influences.
There’s a good article about Morris and the film in Wired. What I’m really interested in is the images themselves, and how they tell the story of what really happened. Or what didn’t.
One of my favorite film writers, Mike D’Angelo, says the meaning of pictures aren’t fully utilized. From his review:
- “What gets short shrift, surprisingly, are the
photographs themselves. Some have been critical of Morris’ decision to
commission flashy animated sequences from graphics whiz Kyle Cooper,
finding the juxtaposition of the sordid and the high-tech to be somehow
unseemly. Those people should chill. But what I really wanted from S.O.P. — especially given the terrific essays Morris has been writing on the nature of photography for the New York Times
— was an in-depth exploration of the bizarre disjunction between what
the disgraced MPs (persuasively) claim they were feeling and their
demeanor in the pictures. Sabrina Harman, for example, wrote letters to
her lover at the time that powerfully recount her disgust at what was
going on — so why do we see her grinning like a lunatic and giving a
big party-hearty thumbs-up beside an Iraqi corpse? Morris asks the
question, but he doesn’t really delve, being too busy indicting the
U.S. military as a whole.”
Do the images tell the truth, or not? See the trailer below. Chilling.
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