Standard Operating Procedure

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The Original BJ
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Post by The Original BJ »

Greg wrote:
The Original BJ wrote:I can't say I felt the wow-I've-never-seen-something-like-this-before vibe I did while watching Fast, Cheap & Out of Control or Mr. Death. . .

Have you seen my two favorite Morris docs, The Thin Blue Line and A Brief History Of Time?
I haven't seen the latter. The former I'd also place in the I've-never-seen-this-before club with the more recent pair I mentioned.

Standard Operating Procedure is more like The Fog of War -- more conventional, but with no less eye-opening interviews.
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Post by FilmFan720 »

The Thin BLUE Line, Greg ;)
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Greg
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Post by Greg »

The Original BJ wrote:I can't say I felt the wow-I've-never-seen-something-like-this-before vibe I did while watching Fast, Cheap & Out of Control or Mr. Death. . .

Have you seen my two favorite Morris docs, The Thin Blue Line and A Brief History Of Time?




Edited By Greg on 1210364715
The Original BJ
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Post by The Original BJ »

I saw this the other day. It's a good film. I can't say I felt the wow-I've-never-seen-something-like-this-before vibe I did while watching Fast, Cheap & Out of Control or Mr. Death, but part of the reason for that is because it covers some of the same territory found in the recent Taxi to the Dark Side.

I think both films are very significant accounts of the Abu Ghraib nightmare, and are different enough to serve as fine companion pieces, though I've got to be honest and say I'm not sure I can really take many more films like these two any time soon. I found both rewarding but tremendously difficult to watch. Certainly I don't mean to suggest filmmakers should shy away from this subject matter -- they absolutely shouldn't -- but I may have to at least wait until video for the next significant war doc.
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Post by Greg »

Roger Ebert has a review about Standard Operating Procedure here:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps....9802219

It is a documentary by Errol Morris about Abu Ghraib. I was really struck by the last paragraph of Ebert's review:

Remember the photo of Lynndie posing with the prisoner on a leash? His name, we learn, was Gus. Lynndie says she wasn't dragging him: "You can see the leash was slack." She adds: "He would never had me standing next to Gus if the camera wasn't there."

By the way, this time Morris has Danny Elfman score it and not Philip Glass.
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