Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line, The
Fog of War) weaves a complex and cinematic investigation into the most
notorious images of modern times: the Abu Ghraib prison photographs from
Iraq. These pictures changed America’s image of itself, yet a central mystery
remains: Did they “constitute evidence of systematic abuse by the American
military, or were they documenting the aberrant behavior of a few ‘bad apples?’”
After conducting two years of investigation and extensive on-camera interviews
with all of the Americans directly involved, Morris creates an innovative
and unique documentary, incorporating strikingly filmed interviews and dramatic
re-creations, computer animation, a moving musical score by Danny
Elfman and, of course, the photographs themselves, many of which have not been seen
publicly before. As Morris says about his work: “…Abu Ghraib is the
smoking gun. The underlying question that we still have not resolved, four
years after the scandal: How could American values become so compromised
that Abu Ghraib, and the subsequent cover-up, could happen?” Camera:
Robert Chappell, Robert Richardson. Producer/Director: Errol Morris. (US 2008) 117
min.
Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line, The
Fog of War) weaves a complex and cinematic investigation into the most
notorious images of modern times: the Abu Ghraib prison photographs from
Iraq. These pictures changed America’s image of itself, yet a central mystery
remains: Did they “constitute evidence of systematic abuse by the American
military, or were they documenting the aberrant behavior of a few ‘bad apples?’”
After conducting two years of investigation and extensive on-camera interviews
with all of the Americans directly involved, Morris creates an innovative
and unique documentary, incorporating strikingly filmed interviews and dramatic
re-creations, computer animation, a moving musical score by Danny
Elfman and, of course, the photographs themselves, many of which have not been seen
publicly before. As Morris says about his work: “…Abu Ghraib is the
smoking gun. The underlying question that we still have not resolved, four
years after the scandal: How could American values become so compromised
that Abu Ghraib, and the subsequent cover-up, could happen?” Camera:
Robert Chappell, Robert Richardson. Producer/Director: Errol Morris. (US 2008) 117
min. 