From Berlin: Errol Morris' STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE

Tuesday at the Berlinale, Errol Morris unveiled his upcoming Abu Ghraib documentary STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE.  indieWIRE's Eugene Hernandez has a full report on the press conference:

"STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE delves into the infamous photos that captured the incidents, embarassing the U.S. government, leading to the trial of numerous low-level American soldiers and forcing the subsequent apology by U.S. President Bush. Through interviews with many of the convicted U.S. soliders, including Megan Ambuhl, Javal Davis, Lynndie England, and Jeremy Sivitz, Morris captures first-person accounts detailing and explaining the pictures, not ot mention a damning interview by General Janis Karpinski, all pointing to the fact the actions resulted from the policies of military higher-ups.

"These guys are not the culprit and these photographs are not the entire story of what happened there," Morris noted today in Berlin. "We are looking at a very dark and disturbing chapter of American history and something that does reflect deeply on my entire country.""

Later in Eugene's piece and at the press conference, Morris is - yawn - criticized by a journalist...

"...who questioned his trademark re-creations and fictional footage. "With due respect I think this is nonsense talk," he told the reporter at the press conference, "There's this idea that truth is guaranteed by somehow the style of presentation, that if I run around with a handheld camera and I shoot with available light that is somehow more truthful." Continuing, Morris noted, "Truth is a quest...something that I have never lost sight of and never will."

"Truth is the process of thinking about the world, investigating the world and trying to figure out what is real and what is not."

"My feelings get easily hurt," Morris admitted later, returning to the earlier question about his use of fictional techniques in his work, adding, "I like to find things out...I have done my level headed best to try and uncover new material and a new story here and I believe I have done so.""

Seriously?  Two decades after THIN BLUE LINE Morris is still having to answer questions about re-creations?  Who are these people?

Meanwhile, with the screening comes the reviews. 

Writing for Screen Daily, says David D'Arcy:

"Morris's distillation of long talks with young ex-soldiers and the female general who commanded prisons all over Iraq is among the best documentaries on the Iraq war and on official efforts to cover up ugly aspects of the 'war on terror'. It will test the current American aversion to most films about Iraq.

Critical support could be just the 'surge' that Morris needs to win over large US audiences and to reach beyond his loyal art house base – right into the America where the soldiers fighting the war live. In Europe and elsewhere, S. O. P. will rally a more receptive public and will confirm general views on the Bush administration. The film is assured a long shelf life as one of the definitive statements on the US occupation."

An unsigned review/article for AFP:

"A searing documentary about the prisoner abuse scandal at Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail premiered Tuesday at the Berlin Film Festival, reopening one of the most shameful chapters of the US-led war.

In "Standard Operating Procedure", Oscar-winning director Errol Morris uses recovered footage, reenactments and the notorious photographs published round the world to shed light on the forces behind the sexual and physical maltreatment of Iraqi inmates at the hands of US troops.

The film avoids the familiar ground widely documented after the first incriminating images surfaced in 2004: the global public outrage, the trials and the eventual apology by US President George W. Bush."

Taking a decidedly contrary view is Variety critic/documentarian Todd McCarthy:

"If the medicine's going to taste as bad as it does in "Standard Operating Procedure," it had better be really good for you. But despite the coup of landing candid interviews with several of the Americans most intimately involved in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, Errol Morris' first docu since "The Fog of War" adds relatively little insight to the public understanding of wayward military behavior more incisively analyzed in "Taxi to the Dark Side." Helmer's status and heavyweight subject matter will stir attention running up to April 18 domestic release, but the film is such a grind to sit through that a B.O. fate similar to that of other Iraq-themed releases seems inescapable."

Comments

[Jason Scott]

Count me as one of these people. I consider the use of re-creations a crutch. Morris crafts his crutches of the finest fallen timber from old-growth forest and finishes off the crutches with the masterwork of a violin-maker, but it's still a crutch.

[Mr. Crutch]

Huh? Then would shooting without a tripod or only using talking heads not be a crutch? What is an example of "crutchless" film making? Why are you so easily fooled into thinking non-recreations are "real" and unassisted? I'm sorry, but all documentary technique is a construction. Sit in on the editing of a documentary some time and you'll learn something about how constructed all cinema is. The world doesn't happen in 1.5 hour chunks of time on a 4:3 box.