Just got back from seeing the new Errol Morris film, Standard Operating Procedure, as part of the SF Film Festival. It's a pretty incredible documentary, as are all of his documentaries. As with all of his films, he is able to balance the presentation of facts with some really beautiful and artful reconstructions. There may be moments where the reconstructions are too beautiful and artsy for some, but I really had no problem with them. While in his earlier film "The Thin Blue Line" he examined the veracity of reconstructions, this time he turns the idea on its head as the reconstructions prove to be more factual than the impressions of the Abu Ghraib photos.

It's a powerful documentary that does something most documentarians shy from but Morris seems to embrace in his works. He seeks out the gray areas and actively tries to expose them. His films don't see the world in black and white, but in many shades of gray. No one is innocent, but those presumed guilty may in fact be the least responsible.

I thought I had a pretty good idea of the goings on at Abu Ghraib, but this film really showed me that I didn't know a thing. The media had already made their assumptions and I had made mine. Even though I was able to see through a lot of the spin, there's a lot of nuance that gets lost.

Some of the language used to justify these actions, I found disturbing. They're used everywhere and every time I hear them they are no less disturbing. The most ubiquitous was "stress positions". Perfectly acceptable form of treatment until you tell someone that crucifixion is also a "stress position". Yet somehow we don't see this as torture. Lovely.

Errol Morris was in attendance to accept an award and it was truly deserved. The Q&A session before and after the film was incredibly insightful. He's a pretty soft spoken man. He listened carefully to every question asked and very slowly and deliberately answered each one. I find it interesting that he talks this way. It's clear that by doing so he is able to get his interview subjects to really feel free to talk.

He addressed some of the controversy surrounding the film. Namely a NY Times article taking him to task for paying some of his interview subjects. Personally, I have no problem with this and he explained the reasoning behind it. Quite simply, it was the only way to get them to appear on camera. These are people who went to war from a working class background and returned to a working class background. He didn't pay them to say anything in particular. It was an appearance fee for a for-profit film and I see this as perfectly reasonable. Nothing in any of the interviews seems disingenuous or at least money played not part in any feeling of that sort.

It's pretty hard to describe just how powerful a film "Standard Operating Procedure" is. I was deeply moved by a few moments and the examination of truth in the film is just fascinating. It's certainly his most blatantly political film, but it doesn't lose any nuance in the process. I probably need to see the film again. I would highly recommend seeing it when it comes out within the next couple of weeks.