The Unknown Known (2013)

Director: Errol Morris
Writer:    Errol Morris
Features: Donald Rumsfeld, Errol Morris (Voice)

Former United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, discusses his career in Washington D.C. from his days as a congressman in the early 1960s to planning the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The title of the documentary comes from the quote that Donald Rumsfeld gave in 2002 about lack of evidence linking Saddam's regime with the supply of WMDs to terrorist groups. The full quote is as below:

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones. "

When the documentary starts he says that is the lack of imagination from Intelligence agencies that led to failures like Pearl Harbour and 9/11. It is this that he means with the unknown unknown category. But later in the documentary he says that the unknown knowns, things that we think we know but turned out to be different, to be the most dangerous. When Morris points out that he used unknown unknown in the quote, Rumsfeld says that he meant unknown known and that can sum up his pedantry in torturing the language to suit his needs. Unknown unknown was used by him to convey the presence of imaginary WMDs and now we can use Unknown Known to describe what happened in Iraq after the invasion. 

The neo-cons, who also tend to be Jesus-Freaks, have a habit of making massive generalizations that are logically suspect. Another memo that he wrote regarding WMDs contained the argument that: 'Absence of Evidence is not evidence of absence'. This is something that religious people come out with when you question the absence of God. Well, you can also claim the existence of flying teapots orbiting Mars using that logic. 

Some have criticized the documentary for raising more questions than answers. That would be missing the point since it is aiming to depict how illogical and muddled Rumsfeld is in his rationalization. All of us know about what happened in Iraq and documentaries like 'No End in Sight' dealt with it already. What Morris is doing is to use Rumsfeld himself to reveal whatever he wants to say. The last question by a bewildered Morris: 'Why the hell have you agreed to do this?' is exactly what we feel. Maybe it is a case of someone who had Presidential ambitions in his 30s wanting a little more of the limelight. It was interesting that he took special care to describe Dick Cheney as his deputy when he was talking about the 70s. 

Rating: 4/5

                                                                   

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)

Director: Errol Morris

A film about the former US secretary of Defense and the various difficult lessons he learned about the nature and conduct of modern war.

The title 'Fog of War' refers to the military concept depicting the difficulty of making decisions in the midst of a conflict, many of which can be interpreted as stupid with hindsight. The documentary film which was initially conceived as a TV interview is based on around twenty hours worth of interview material Errol Morris had with McNamara. It was filmed using a device Morris use which he calls as 'Interrotron' which permits the subject to look directly at the camera and see Morris on a small monitor. The involvement of Morris in the final cut is minimal and we are left to make judgements based on what we hear from McNamara. McNamara is largely held as the man who was responsible for the extent of US' involvement in the Vietnam war and the documentary provides  us a counter-factual insights into various events during that cold war period. World War Two (Japanese Bombing) and the Cuban missile crisis is also covered in the film. 

The following are the lessons that Errol Morris thinks we should learn from what McNamara is saying:

• Empathize with your enemy
• Rationality will not save us
• There's something beyond one's self
• Maximize efficiency
• Proportionality should be a guideline in war
• Get the data
• Belief and seeing are often both wrong
• Be prepared to re-examine your reasoning
• In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil
• Never say never
• You can't change human nature

It can be used to judge the current wars in Ukraine and Israel-Palestine conflict. Morris had asked McNamara to judge the Iraq war based on those lessons but he declined to do so and said the viewers can come to their own judgement. 

The documentary film gives us an insight into the mind of an undoubtedly an exceptionally bright man who had a difficult job as Secretary of Defense in the Cold War period.

Rating: 4.5/5

Tabloid (2010)

Director: Errol Morris
Stars:      Joyce McKinney, Kent Gavin, Dr.Hong
Tabloid is a documentary on a former Miss Wyoming who is charged with abducting and imprisoning a young Mormon missionary. The story becomes a wildfire among British tabloid press.

Documentary us well made but the subject matter is not that interesting to me. I guess those lived during the times when the events happened would like it more.

Rating: 3/5